Whoever Said Being Immortal Was Easy
by lollzie
Summary: Sequel to Secrets Jack has come back to Wales after months of absence and there's hell to pay. Not only does he have to win back the trust of his team, he has to fix his relationship with Ianto, whilst trying to convince a clan of vampires not to kill him. Currently on HIATUS, though I hope to get back to it, once I've completed one of the two stories I'm currently working on.
1. Chapter 1

**So I'm back! Here is the sequel to Secrets: Whoever Said Being Immortal Was Easy. This story will be following the episodes of series 2 more than the first story did. The first few chapters are based on the the first episode, when I first started writing around Kiss Kiss Bang Bang the chapter would have been originally thirteen pages so I decided to split it into two chapters. There are going to be quite a few chapters focusing on Ianto and Jack's relationship, how Jack is going to make it up to Ianto, and can any of imagine that the Cullen's are going to be over the moon about Jack's disappearance and reappearance. I've also planned to look through the relationships of the team more, and I'll most likely will be going quite AU around episode 7 or 8 especially in the terms of some people's relationships. **

**I'll be covering some things that I've been wanting to write ever since I got the basic idea for secrets. I can't promise that updates will always be regular, because even though I'm now my summer holidays, I also tend to go out more (I feel terrible if I spend my whole day on my laptop, especially if it's a really nice sunny day) and I'm going to be away for quite a bit wherever I'm on holiday or camping, but I can promise to try my hardest to update as often as I can. I'm planning to sit down and just write at least once a week, when I'm on holiday I'm planning on spending time that I'm at an airport and on the plane writing in my notebook. I've written up chapter two already and am starting on chapter three as this is being posted. **

**Hope you enjoy :)**

It had been almost four months since Captain Jack Harkness had left his team to be with the Doctor. It hadn't been easy to cope without their boss, but after a few weeks, the remaining members of Torchwood accepted that he wouldn't be returning any time soon, and they needed to up their game.

Things hadn't gone well for them in the first week of Jack's absence, the hub had been pure chaos, the only remaining calm being Ianto. Everyone else, either panicking or not focusing on their jobs in hand. After one too many weevil attacks gone wrong, Ianto had called a board meeting to try and sort out the mess Jack had left behind. He was probably the most surprised when it actually worked out, figuring Tosh would take his words to heart and Gwen would try, but ultimately get frustrated by the added workload and fail, at the very best.

After that, things had started going a bit more smoothly, especially when Ianto convinced his family, the Cullens, that entering the hub whenever they felt like it, to try and find Jack wasn't the best thing to do, seeing as none of them were actually staff members and the presence of so many vampires and a werewolf (even if they were vegetarian) at one time, in one very claustrophobic hub could unnerve the best of people.

Carlisle had managed to get everyone to agree that they wouldn't go round to the hub, unless they had permission or it was an emergency. He also made them promise that they wouldn't go looking for Jack ("Alice I don't care how much you want to kill him over and over again, you probably won't find him, as the chances of him actually still being on this planet, let alone this century are slim" Ianto had said one night exasperated. "And even if you do find him, then I wouldn't let you kill him anyway, he felt the need to go to the Doctor, I know that as does everyone else at Torchwood.")

Owen hadn't liked the idea of being in charge- the memories of his betrayal still fresh in his mind- and instead the team had decided to even out Jack's responsibilities. Gwen would more often than not take charge in the hub and going over data whilst Owen took charge out in the field, but if it got too much Ianto would calmly take over, being able to keep a cool head at the worst of times.

It was something he had easily proven he could do, but when Gwen had offered him the position full time he hadn't let her even finish her sentence.

("We both know that Owen is fantastic at his job, and that he deserves this. He's good at taking charge and anyway I've always been much better following orders than giving them, and I know I would never feel comfortable doing that. Anyway you two are much better at the whole peace talking with other species, I might be able to talk the talk, but they can normally sense I'm dangerous, and it's sometimes best to keep me in the background for as long as possible.")

Of course then Harold Saxon had sent them on a wild goose chase around the Himalayas, they had been trekking around the mountains aimlessly for over a week until they got a call from Alice saying that Saxon had assassinated the president on National television. They had immediately returned to Cardiff, trying to sort out the mess Saxon had left behind.

One night, the team had found themselves chasing after an alien blowfish, who wasn't doing the best job at remaining hidden.

"Some aliens can be so stupid," Owen had chuckled. "I know, I'll nick a bright red sports car, no-one will notice me then."

They finally managed to track down where it was, Ianto and Tosh in the back seats of the SUV, trying to find information on it, any natural defence mechanisms and the best way to get rid of it, whilst Gwen and Owen were lightly bickering in the front, keeping their eyes peeled for him.

Gwen spotted the blowfish first and a chase began. Until it lost them by swiftly turning around a roundabout.

"If you had let me drive this wouldn't have happened," Ianto said in a singsong voice.

"Shut it fangs," Owen grunted, sharply turning the car around and catching up with the bright red convertible once more. Then he pulled one of the most stupid moves ever. He let go of the wheel and shot at the car. Luckily for him it worked, and nobody died.

"He's not in the car," Ianto said, once they jumped out of the SUV, watching Owen and Gwen run over to the now empty vehicle, looking around in vain. Sniffing the air, Ianto caught a scent of fish.

"He's over-" Two gunshots interrupted him. The team kicked down the small house's door, and ran into the living room.

The blowfish was holding a young woman by the neck, gun pressed into her skull. Another woman was by the door frame not daring to move, whilst a middle aged man was lying on the floor, clutching at his wound. Owen barked out orders, the others following them swiftly.

Ianto, Gwen and Tosh kept their guns trained on the blowfish, Owen tending to the man's wounds whilst Tosh read out the fish's body levels, confirming that he was high, and very at that.

But the blowfish wasn't finished there, he taunted them all, calling them kids.

"The doctor with his hands full of blood, the carer with her oh so beating heart, the technician with her cold devices which leaves me with the most interesting of the lot. The office boy, promoted beyond his wildest dreams, but that's not all, you're so much more than that, keeping what you are for so long a secret. You're a monster just like me, but you've been denying yourself from the kill too long. You've lost your nerve, could never pull the trigger on me now. None of you could. You're all so scared without your master, all of you pretending to be so brave, all of you so scared," he mocked. "So vampire how brave are you feeling. Can you do it, can you kill me? Watch the life leave my body like all those innocent people you've claimed over the past."

Ianto's gun shook, his finger not pressing down on the trigger no matter how much he tried. The blowfish continued to jeer at him, shoving the gun at the girl even more, until one final bang rang out.

The blowfish slumped to the floor dead, it's brains smeared all over the curtains. Ianto looked at his gun, he hadn't shot, he knew he hadn't, but who had?

He turned around slowly, at the same time as the others, to come face to face with Captain Jack Harkness. "Hey kids. Did you miss me?" he smiled cockily.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

When Jack had left the Doctor and Martha, he kept hidden in the shadows, not entering the base straight away. The pair couldn't see him but he could see them. They searched for him fruitlessly for a few moments before walking off, joking and smiling, glad that the world was back to how it once was.

"Goodbye Doctor," he whispered. Staring at his vortex manipulator, Jack sighed. He didn't need to travel in time, but it would be nice to have the option. Now the only time related thing it could do, was read it. Deciding that maybe checking at what time the Doctor had dropped him off would be a good idea- after all he didn't want to run into his past self, especially with his team, that wouldn't be the best situation to be in- he pressed a few buttons. "4:16pm on the 16th of March 2008. Oh shit they're all going to kill me,"

Deciding that heading down to the hub now instead of in a few hours time would be the best idea, especially if they could see him down there. Jack knew where every camera had been placed on the Plass, and knew he was in direct view of at least three. At this time of day, the base should have everyone there and at the very least, one person would be there, manning the fort in case of an emergency.

He climbed onto the invisible lift, and let it lower him down slowly. Seeing the base for the first time in over a year was probably the most comforting thing Jack could have imagined. Myfanwey was flying overhead, giving the occasional squawk.

"Hey girl," he called out. Climbing off of the lift, he looked around for any sign of human life. Tosh's computers were all whirring and beeping, Gwen's and Owen's had their screen savers flashing, but apart from that, it was silent.

"Guys," He called out warily. Maybe they were all in the boardroom.

Climbing the stairs to the boardroom, Jack saw at once it was empty. But laptops were still lying open on the desks and coffee mugs with half drunken coffee were cooling down. Jack placed a hand on the closest mug, and noted it was still warm.

"They couldn't have left until recently then," he mused. " But where will they have gone," He looked up at the screen that had been inserted into the boardroom's wall and started to read the information. It was about a blowfish alien (one of many Jack had encountered) who seemed to be stealing as much as he could. Champagne, fancy clothes and a bright red sports car were all in the list that the blowfish had... acquired.

Obviously the team had been talking about the blowfish, when it had popped back up again. Letting them give chase. Jack opened up the vortex manipulator and pressed a few buttons until he had got what he wanted.

The Captain had installed the tracker on the SUV a few years ago, ever since Owen and Suzie had got lost in the middle of no-where surrounded by weevils, there was no way that Jack or Tosh could track them down, so Jack had brought the back up SUV, driving it around aimlessly, in the spot where Owen and Suzie were last seen until he finally found them.

He couldn't risk that again, so without telling anybody he put a tracker on both of the SUVs, they were easy enough to get access to, but at this moment in time he was the only one who knew about them.

If there was an emergency, then he would tell someone about the trackers, but until then, there just wasn't any need. He knew that Owen would probably turn the tracker on, to see where he went, when he disappeared to one of his old haunts, which he had done many a time without telling the team. He didn't need to have his privacy disturbed any further. Nor did he want it.

It took mere seconds to track down the SUV, they were just about to leave Splott, and quickly at that. Obviously Owen was driving by the way, the SUV seemed to occasionally swerve. Gwen and Tosh never drove that quickly and Ianto kept in control of the car much better, with his vampire reflexes.

Jack missed his team, whilst a few days travelling with the Doctor was fantastic and one of the best things in the world, Jack knew that he would never as stayed as long as he was forced to. The year that never was, gave Jack a lot of time to think, between all the torturings that is.

Everyday the Master had killed him, each one worse and more painful than the one previous. About three months in, the Master had got bored of just killing him, so upped his game at tracking down Torchwood. And he found them.

They had been hiding out in a deserted warehouse, which had an underground bunker connected to it. The whole team and the Cullens had been there. But only the team had been brought to the Valiant. The others had been killed on earth, the Toclofane ripping them to shreds, their blades not even having a scratch on them by the time they had finished with the Cullen's and then their remains had been burnt to a crisp.

When his team had been brought onto the Valiant, the Master tortured them all mercilessly. Ianto more than the most, there were many reasons why he did that. He was closest to Jack, his whole family had been killed on earth, so he had the biggest reason to snap first and because he was a vampire. Practically indestructible.

The Master would laugh with glee as he chopped off Ianto's hand or leg and watch as it would slowly reconnect itself with his body.

But soon enough the Master got bored of just torturing them, Jack's pleas for them to let them go wasn't enough any more, so he killed them. One by one, in the most slow and painful way he could imagine.

Tosh was the first to be killed, with the whole team, Jack, Martha's family and even the Doctor forced to watch. A couple of weeks later it was Owen's turn, he didn't scream or beg for mercy, he stayed silent, until his body fell limp, a bloody mess by the end of it.

The Master didn't get bored for another month after that, just content with torturing the two remaining members of the Torchwood Institute. Gwen was just an empty shell of her former self by this point, Rhys had been killed in the first month of the Masters reign, her family also had been murdered early on and she had been forced to watch her team-mates die.

When she stopped screaming and begging for the torture to end, she was also killed. Leaving only Ianto.

His death was by far the worst, the master had chained him up, with a special type of metal from galaxies away, so he couldn't escape, he'd then been doused in oil and set alight, the death was slower and more painful than if he had been destroyed first, but the Master wanted him to be whole as he burnt. He had wanted him to suffer.

Shaking himself from the depressing thoughts, Jack climbed up the stairs to his office. He was mildly surprised when he saw it was exactly the same as when he left it. Sure there were no forms or other papers on the desk, but it was obvious that no-one had decided to inhabit it.

Someone obviously kept the place in good nick though, nothing had moved around on the desk, but no dust had collected either, so once in a while one of his team must do a bit of dusting. Opening the top draw of his desk Jack couldn't help but smile, his webley was still lying there, a few full magazines next to it. He pulled them out, before leaving the hub once more, fully intent on finding his team.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

It was a good thing that Ianto didn't need to breathe, because at that moment in time, he had completely forgotten how to. The others needed to breathe to ultimately survive, but it seemed they had all gone into shock, the sobbing from the two women snapping them all out of it.

Owen finished patching up the man, making sure that no more blood was escaping the wound before helping him up. Gwen brought the two women to the kitchen, away from the dead fish's remains, making three cups of tea, slipping retcon pills into each of them. When Owen had finished with the man, he brought him to his family and Gwen started to comfort them.

Whilst they were doing that, Tosh and Ianto placed the dead alien into a body bag and carried him into the back of the SUV, away from prying eyes.

Once they had done that, Tosh made sure that all devices had been cleaned away as Owen and Ianto silently removed the curtains, before messing the house up enough, to convince the family that their had been a break in.

Whilst they were doing this, not one word was said between anyone, Jack for once was in the background, his team had grown up and no longer felt the need to look to him for guidance. They knew exactly what to do and when to do it. The clean up process took no longer than twenty minutes, and when they had finished they all climbed into the SUV, minus Ianto who offered to drive the sports car back to the hub.

No-one argued with him, they all knew how awkward he must feel with his boss and lover returning after four months of unexplained absence. Owen didn't give up the drivers seat, and he noticed with grim satisfaction that Gwen didn't let Jack sit in the other front seat, instead he slipped into the back with Tosh, who refused to look him in the eye. He glared at Jack through the cars front mirror before driving to the hub.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

The drive back to the hub was pretty much like the clean up process. Silent. No-one dared talk. Everyone was waiting for Jack to start talking whilst he was trying to think of what to say. When they reached the hub however the others jumped straight into a professional mood. Unloading the body into the autopsy bay, and turning on computers looking over more information.

"Are you sure no more like him came through?" Gwen asked.

"Cross referencing with the rift activity monitor," Tosh said furiously typing away on her keyboard. "Doesn't look like it,"

"The car's been impounded. I'll get it back to the owner in the morning," Ianto informed Gwen, after he had rushed back up to the main hub.

"How you doing Owen?" Gwen asked, nodding at what Ianto had said.

"Bio-profile's on screen now." he said brushing past Gwen. "Nothing in his genetic make-up is likely to contaminate the city."

Gwen skimmed over the file before asking Tosh to add it the data-base. Once Tosh had confirmed she turned to Ianto, puppy dog eyes at the ready if need be. She didn't need to use them, as Ianto swiftly agreed to tend with the body once it had froze.

Any other time he might have made Gwen work for it, before he inevitably agreed, but now everyone was remaining professional, they didn't want to show Jack that his leaving had left the team broken, they weren't going to let him come swanning in, thinking that they couldn't manage without him, it was an unspoken agreement with all of them, one they all intended to keep.

Jack noticed that what the level of professionalism that the team were showing wasn't the whole story almost immediately and called them up on it.

Gwen's biting tone, didn't shut up the Captain, but her pushing him into a wall certainly did. By now the whole team was watching the exchange between the two.

He apologised and when Toshiko asked where he was, he answered more truthfully than he had in the past.

"I found my Doctor," he said, confirming what Ianto had been saying since he first disappeared.

"Did he fix you?" Owen asked softly. Ianto looked away, it was no secret that Jack hated the burden of him being immortal and if he could he would get rid of it, after all watching the people you love dying, never would get any easier, but Ianto had thought that maybe now that he and Jack had got together that maybe he didn't mind not ever dying and staying that way. Obviously it still bothered him, which in turn bothered Ianto.

Of course Jack hid his hurt behind a joke once more. "What to fix? You can't mess with this level of perfection." But everyone saw how the smile didn't reach up to his eyes.

"Are you going back to him?" Ianto said softly, the first words he had said to the Captain, they were laced with fear and uncertainty. He had seen the way Jack had talked about the Doctor and had read all the files on him.

He knew there would be no contest, if Jack had to choose between the man who understood and travelled through time, able to take him to all these wonderful planets or the vegetarian vampire, who had hidden his identity for so long then the choice was obvious. Ianto knew who he would have chosen, and more importantly he knew who Jack would choose and who he would always choose.

"I came back for you," Jack said, looking Ianto straight into his amber eyes. They had a silent staring competition before Ianto looked away, obviously uncomfortable with the looks Jack had been giving him. They weren't just lust with a bit of caring thrown in there, the looks he was being given had caring and respect and need and regret, and Ianto wasn't used to that. "All of you," looking at each member of the team.

A loud beeping interrupted them, signalling rift activity. The team sprung into action, loading their weapons and closing down projects. As they left none of them noticed the red beeper in the blowfish's pockets.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

A man in his early thirties had been found, obviously having fallen off the four storey building, the only suspicious thing was the amount of rift activity that was around his upper body and neck area.

"He was grabbed and pushed," Jack said helpfully. Once Tosh had finished her scan, Jack took charge immediately, he might have been gone for four months- a year for him- but he was born to be a leader.

Gwen made a snide comment before walking off, Jack only retaliating by being as sarcastic as he could, all the while remaining professional. Gwen thanked Andy, as she always did before walking down to the SUV with the others.

Jack went to open the SUV door, but was interrupted by his vortex manipulator beeping.

"Whoa that thing never beeps," Ianto said confused.

"That's what I was thinking," Jack said, maybe the Doctor hadn't fully turned off some programs, he might have missed a couple. _Hopefully the good ones_ he thought.

He tapped a button, a hologram of one man he thought he would never see again appeared. He was still the same, still cocky, still sarcastic, still doing anything to grab Jack's attention including throwing people off buildings and walking into bars full of people and threatening them with guns.

Jack knew he couldn't let his team meet that man, whatever name he was going by didn't change the fact that he was still dangerous.

He drove off to the bar in the SUV, it wouldn't stop them, Tosh would be able to track him down and they'd either follow him on foot or find another method of transportation. Maybe a taxi?

Jack knew he didn't have a long time to get rid of his former lover, he had missed Ianto so much, and letting him find out that he was spending time with one of his exes was not the best thing to do to make up for the whole going missing thing.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

The team was annoyed. In fact they were more than annoyed, they were beyond pissed off. Ianto half-heartedly listened to them as they started raving. He couldn't help but wonder who the man that had contacted Jack was. They had obviously meant something to each other.

Why would Jack have run off like that otherwise? Maybe that was why he wanted to become mortal again, so he could be with that other man. Ianto knew he and Jack had never had the most conventional relationship, a few quick snogs here and there, hell they had only made out properly once or twice, and only when Jack knew about Ianto being a vampire.

Jack had said he wanted to be with Ianto, had said that he wanted to have a proper relationship with him, but the two hadn't even been on a date with one another. It might have been all talk anyway? What if Jack had only been saying those things because he was bored of his bed being cold at night. The man that had contacted him might have been travelling with the Doctor, or lost somewhere? Obviously Jack cared about him more.

How could Ianto have been so stupid. He gave a quiet sigh, watching the dark background whiz past them, occasionally giving a witty comment when there was a lull in conversation. Ianto was dreading arriving at the pub though, who knew what they would find. He shuddered at the mental image.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just in case any of you were confused, in this story Jack left in November 2007, and returns in March 2008. So he would have been missing for almost four months. I confused myself whilst writing the dates, looking at the air dates, for not only the two Torchwood air dates but also the Doctor Who date for Utopia. Once I thought I had everything figured out, I then realised that Secrets was set in Winter, which once again confused me. I'm a simpleton at heart :P **

**See you soon! **

**Lollzie xox**


	2. Chapter 2

**I am so sorry for this unforgivable amount of time between updates. I honestly don't have one main valid reason for not writing or posting this for however many months it's been since my last update, although I have had many little reasons which have pushed back my free time- meaning I rarely have time to sit and down and just write. Again I am so sorry and if there is still anyone reading this then I hope you enjoy. I can honestly say that I will try and make time to write and with it being half term this week I hope to write at least a couple of chapters. Anyway enough of my apologetic ramblings and on to this long overdue chapter. **

The team were faster than Jack thought they would have been. They must have called a cab, Tosh, Owen and Gwen wouldn't have been so quick running and Ianto would have probably made it to the club before even Jack had.

"All right everybody out," John said, shooting at the two doors. Toshiko and Owen came through one door, whilst Gwen and Ianto through the other. Their guns were raised, ready to shoot if necessary. John openly mocked Jack about the team, although he did seem genuinely upset about the lack of a blonde.

"God he's worse than Jack," Owen groaned.

The man who was worse than Jack continued to pester Jack, asking about team names, not seeming impressed with Torchwood.

"Oh. Not Excalibur? Blizzard? Bikini Cops? No? Torchwood. Oh dear."

Jack simply rolled his eyes before introducing them to Captain John Hart.

"We go back," he explained, almost apologetically.

"Excuse me. We more than go back. We were partners." he said confirming Ianto's original fears.

But to be sure he asked the question on everyone's minds. "In what way?"

"In every way. And then some," John said, taking huge enjoyment out of Ianto's discomfort.

"It was two weeks," Jack said, trying to reassure Ianto more than anything.

"Except the two weeks was trapped in a time loop. So we were together for five years," John continued on, but Ianto had stopped listening. Five years? And if it was anything like John was painting it they were pretty domesticated. Something he and Jack had never been, and probably never would be, not if the presence of John was anything to go by.

John showed his wrist, indicating the presence of a wrist strap, much like Jack's. John mentioned something about Time Agents leaving everyone confused.

John seemed quite happy about Jack not telling them about his past. Something else he knew about Jack, that they didn't. Ianto couldn't help but think. Would he ever trust the team enough to tell them about his past, more importantly would he ever trust Ianto enough to tell him about his past. Sure Ianto knew more than the rest of the team, (one of the many joys of working in the archives.

You could find out information without having to pester anyone, and because of the lack of pestering everyone thought that their secrets were safe.) But there were many things that Ianto didn't know about Jack, many things that John obviously knew about him. After all they had spent five years together. Would Jack even want to have a relationship with Ianto any more, all John and Jack had pretty much done since he'd arrived was flirt.

John's cocky voice broke through his thoughts. "So I'm working with this woman," A hologram of a small cannister popped up from his wrist watch, similar to what had happened with Jack's earlier in the evening. "Beautiful, clever, sexy, yadda, yadda, yadda, and we both get shot. And as she's dying, she begs me. She tells me about these radiation cluster bombs- she's been working on. There are three canisters, contents beyond toxic swallowed up in a rift storm."

"And ended up here," Tosh guessed, to which John confirmed.

"If we leave those bombs, the toxic will break the cannisters and gradually start to infect the people and the planet. They need to be neutralised." John turned off his wristwatch and lowered his arm.

"What do you get out of this?" Jack asked, his voice wary. He seemed even more disbelieving when John said it was only a dying woman's wish.

The two started a stare off before John looked away, choosing instead to look each member of Torchwood in the eye and ask for help locating the cannisters. Well Torchwood always tried to be helpful.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

John didn't seem to be too impressed with the hub. Choosing instead to pick at little things, the location, the invisible lift, the general design etc. The team gathered around the lift, when Jack and John had got there, all armed. Ianto held a small tray in his arms, standing right behind Jack.

"Weapons," Jack uttered. John gave over a samurai sword and two guns, smiling over at the team. "And the rest," Jack said also smiling.

"Oh you know me, I'm a two weapon man." John wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Gwen looked at the scanner Tosh had given her and read out the information. "One pistol to each leg," At this John's face fell, but he gave over the weapons without protest. "Laser knife beneath the left elbow, 17 small explosive charges in the lining of his coat," she carried on in a similar manner until John was defenceless.

Jack had asked Owen and Tosh to look over John whilst Ianto was to put the weapons in a secure safe down in the archives. Ianto walked at human speed until he was out of John's sight, then ran down to the third floor underground in record timing. He opened the first door on his left and looked over the little room. It wasn't very big, but there was enough room for a couple of computers to be placed on a large desk.

One computer Ianto used to modernize the archives, uploading files and artefacts on the database so it would be easier for everybody to find what they needed. The second computer had CCTV up, at the moment the cameras were on by the entrance of the archives like they normally were, that way when Ianto was working he could see who entered and intercept them before they got too lost.

In her first days at Torchwood, Gwen had gotten lost in the archives, it took three hours to find her, Ianto at that point couldn't use his vampire abilities to use and because there was so much dust where Gwen had decided to wander it was harder to track her down.

Seeing there was nothing that needed to be brought to his attention, Ianto went to the furthest wall and opened up the safe. He dispatched John's weapons there and just as he was about to make his way back up to the main hub a movement on his screens caught his attention.

Jack and Gwen had walked through the main entrance, Ianto turned up the sound on the computer, whilst he had impeccable hearing and could her things from miles away the general whirring of machines and roars of weevils tended to make it harder for him to hear the others from a long distances away, especially as he was three floors under the pair.

"He's a compulsive liar. Why is he in the building?" Gwen asked. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were talking about John.

"There's the tiniest one percent chance that he's breaking the habit of a lifetime and telling the truth." Jack said, and Ianto couldn't help but notice that he was sticking up for John. "Which mean this city is in danger."

"What did he mean by a Time Agent?" Gwen asked. "You've never mentioned it."

At this Jack looked away. "That was in the past." he said.

"Oh okay, here we go again." Gwen said, her words mirroring Ianto's thoughts. "You know everything about me Jack. Why do you keep shutting me out? Why do you keep shutting Ianto out, because apart from you he used to be the one with all the secrets and now we know all about him. But tell me Jack, does he know what a Time Agent is? Does he know where you went three months ago?" When Jack failed to answer she smirked and muttered. "Didn't think so."

"Here and now, that's what's important. The work we do, the person I am now, that's what I'm proud of. That's why I haven't told anyone about my past, including Ianto." Ianto couldn't help but shiver, the way they were so casually talking about him didn't do anything but slightly freak him out. "I used to be a terrible person Gwen-"

"Then why did you desert us?" Gwen seemed to explode, her voice full of anger. "Where did you go?" Jack opened his mouth as if he was going to say something before thinking better of it. "No, no, come on. Where did you go? Tell me. Talk to me." When Jack continued to stay silent Gwen said in a soft voice. "Ianto was the only one who believed you would come back. At first I thought you had been taken, but when we checked on the CCTV we saw you running towards a big blue box. Ianto said that you'd found the Doctor, and he was right wasn't he? That's what you said before in the hub. That you had found your Doctor.  
>When we were sure it was the Doctor we all thought you had left for good. You've always said that you're waiting for the Doctor to come, we all thought you were never coming back, except for Ianto. He said that you'd come back, one day, even if it was in a hundred years, you'd eventually return. I don't know if he ever gave up on you, we stopped wondering where you went about a month after you left. It was too painful, especially for Ianto. I mean he had his family supporting him, but their words of comfort weren't the best. They want to kill you by the way." At this Jack looked away, the guilt apparent on his face.<p>

"I have died so many times," he started. "Been dragged back into life like being hauled over broken glass. I saw the end of the world."

"How?"

"It doesn't matter now. But it after it was all over I knew I belong here. What kept me fighting was the thought of coming home to you. To the team. To Ianto." He stroked up and down Gwen's arm comfortingly, before reaching her hand. His own hand touched the ring on her finger.

"What's this?" he asked curiously.

"That's an engagement ring," Gwen said looking at it fondly.

"You're getting married?" Jack asked like he couldn't believe it.

"Yes, Rhys asked whilst you were away."

"Wow Gwen Cooper getting married. Who would have ever of thought it?"

"Hey," Gwen said, lightly slapping Jack on the arm, both laughing now. As they continued to talk, Ianto left the room, his head slightly spinning. Trying to make sense of the information he had just learnt.

TWTWTWTWTWTW

The team and John had made their way to the boardroom. Tosh had turned the screen on, and was showing the team a minor surge of rift activity she had logged.

"Three locations, six people that's simple," John said almost absent-mindedly. "Two people per cannister."

"Excuse me, I give the orders." Jack said sharply.

"Well give some then, big boy."

"John's right," Gwen interrupted, before Jack could insult him further. "Sorry do you prefer John or Captain?"

"With eyes like yours, if you call me Vera I won't complain," John said, and it was hard to see how serious he was being. It didn't stop Ianto from rolling his eyes however. Tosh gave a small smile when she noticed.

"Tosh and Owen, take the North, Ianto and Jack, go West. Me and Vera will take the docks."

Jack seemingly unhappy how things were being dealt with, interrupted again. Although was quickly silenced by Gwen.

John gave one last warning about the dangers of the radioactive cannisters before the team left, Gwen and Jack staying behind to argue about John.

"Has he got to the no kissing rule, he only invented that because he wants to keep me all to himself." John said cockily. Just before Gwen left she muttered into Jack's ear.  
>"Think of it this way, you can spend the time looking for the cannister, grovelling for Ianto's forgiveness, we all know how long he can hold a grudge for."<p>

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack and Ianto got to their spot within fifteen minutes. It was a large block of offices, all shut down for the night. The lock was easy enough to pick and the alarm system wasn't even puzzling for Jack. They got to the top floor and started to look around.

"Oh yeah," Jack started, trying to diffuse the tension that had been with him and Ianto since he had arrived. When had it gotten that difficult between the pair? Oh yeah when he had run off with the Doctor without a word of warning. What didn't help the situation however was the sudden appearance of his crazy ex. "Loving that officey feel. I always get excited in these places. To me, they're exotic. Office romances, photocopying your butt. Well maybe not your butt. Although as we're here why don't we photo-"

Dear Lord he had turned into a blabbering idiot! Forget diffusing the tension, more like scaring away the guy you want to have a relationship with. Luckily before he could continue saying awful dreadful things, Ianto interrupted.

"The rift was active at these coordinates approximately 200 feet above the ground. That means this floor or the roof."

It was like before and straight after Lisa all over again. Ianto was being strictly professional once more. The difference between then and now however was that now Jack was going to purposely try and make sure that Ianto didn't retreat back into his shell. Once Ianto had started being more open with him, Jack had seen how amazing he was. And not just the vampire thing, but what an amazing personality he had. He wanted another chance with Ianto, and he was going to try his best to get it.

"How are you Ianto?"

"All the better for having you back Sir," Great they were back with the Sir thing as well. He had really screwed up.

"Can we maybe drop the Sir now?" Jack asked hesitantly. "I mean while I was away, I was thinking maybe we could, you know when this is all done..." Great now he was stumbling and making a fool of himself. Ianto didn't seem to be too impressed, if the way he was still looking through desk drawers was anyway to go by. But Jack knew he had to carry on. "Dinner... a movie." At this Ianto turned around.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Jack couldn't help but notice that Ianto seemed as nervous as he was.

"Interested?"

"Well as long as it's not in an office. Some fetishes should be kept to yourself." Jack couldn't help but smile at the sarcastic tone he had been missing for over a year.

"Looks like we're gonna have to go through every drawer, bin and plant pot," he said, finally turning the subject back to work.

"I'll do this floor, don't want you getting over-excited." Jack's face froze at Ianto's tone. "And you take the roof. You're good on roofs."

Jack turned away, knowing the quicker he finished checking the roof, the more time he had making it up to Ianto. And if they started making out on one of the desks so be it.

"Jack," Jack turned, hearing his name. "Why are we helping him?"

"He's a reminder of my past I want him gone. By the way, was that a yes?"

"Yes, yes." Jack turned to go onto the roof, missing the look of relief and small smile on Ianto's face.

TWTWTWTWTWTW

When Jack had left the office Ianto's face split into a grin. Whilst what he had overheard on the CCTV between Gwen and Jack had relieved him, he couldn't help but wonder if what Jack had said was simply to shut Gwen up. He had wondered if he had asked him something similar if Jack would have replied with a completely different answer.

And maybe he should have made Jack work for his forgiveness, but Ianto hadn't missed the fact that Jack's eyes were darker, how he seemed to be older and wiser than before. The Welsh Vampire wondered what he had seen to make him like this, but knew better than to ask. If Jack wanted to tell him then he would.

But until that moment, Ianto was perfectly happy simply getting Jack to start trusting him fully and gaining back his own trust for the immortal. The only thing he wanted to worry about now was getting rid of John and then preparing for his upcoming date.

He started to look through desk drawers, working his way through one side of the office to the other, one of the lifts dinging made him stop his search. He turned, got out his gun just in case, (if it was someone who was wandering who shouldn't be, it was normally better to show them the gun, if the gun would be ineffective on them, then he would use vampire skills on them. One of the two usually worked.)

The office door opened with a creak, and he aimed his gun at the lift doors, confused when he didn't see anything straight away. That when he saw the open lift door at the end of the corridor. Slowly making his way there, keeping his gun out and ready, Ianto couldn't help but be confused when he saw that the lift was empty.

A scent flowed past his nose, he recognised that scent, it was a bit like Jack's with the addicting smell but somehow different. He racked his mind until he figured out who's it was. And then he was filled with dread. Captain John Hart.

"Into the lift eye candy," John said, pressing a gun into Ianto's skull. He put his hands up, and allowed John to take his gun.

Rule one: Always let the enemy think they are winning at the start.

He turned around, letting his face mask in fear. "You're friends are bleeding and dying," John said, not removing the gun from Ianto's forehead. He tried to back him into the lift but Ianto didn't budge.

"That won't stop me," Ianto said motioning to the gun.

John gave a dry laugh. "Sweet, but please don't make me use this on you to prove a point."

Giving a shrug Ianto said. "Try it, nothings going to happen."

"Eye candy this isn't one of your crappy little 21st century guns. No this gun is from the year 4897 and is designed specifically to kill vampires."

"Vampires? I don't know what you mean," the Welshman tried to stay as cool as he could.

"Oh please don't insult me, I know a vampire when I see one. Slept with one as well, that's a night I'm never going to forget." John was silent for a second, lost in memories before snapping out of his daze. "Oh don't look so confused eye candy. In the distant future, once the human race have started to spread out through the stars, vampires reveal themselves. And of course there's a few who declare war on humankind, yada yada yada.

So people start to arm themselves. I shoot you in the right place with this gun then you die instantly. I don't and you'll still die. However you'll be in agony for days and no-one would be able to do a thing to help you. So do what I say and go find your friends. You barely have enough time to save them. But I'd suggest taking the SUV, you may be able to travel at a super sonic speed but your team can't. No point in calling them once you've gone either. Your comms system is some of the most primitive tech I've seen in a while. Off you go. Get to them as fast as you can, see if you get to them in time to save them. You come up here and I'll shoot you on sight."

John pressed the ground floor button on the lift, watching as the lift doors slowly closed. "Why are you doing this?" Ianto growled.

"We're a cosmic joke, eye candy. An accident of chemicals and evolution. The jokes, the sex, just cover the fact that nothing means anything. And the only consolation is money. So run Ianto Jones." John didn't lower his gun until the doors had fully closed.

TWTWTWTWTW

Ianto found the warehouse with Owen and Tosh quickly enough, a bruise was blooming on Tosh's face and Owen was stitching up a gun shot wound on his hip. By now, Ianto had got used to ignoring the scent of his colleagues blood and he quickly helped Owen up to the SUV, where he continued to treat his wound and check Tosh over. By the time he had finished they had reached the docks to find Gwen.

"She's here," Ianto said, smelling the air, once they had reached the docks.

"Do you know where?" Tosh asked anxiously.

"This way," Ianto cried, entering a light jog, Owen and Tosh close behind him. "She's around here, I can't tell where exactly, because of where her and John were before, her scents everywhere."

"Well then we keep looking," Tosh said, pulling on one of the doors.

"God I need more painkillers," Owen cried, opening a container.

"I'll try her phone again," Ianto reached out for his phone and hit Gwen's number. A mobile started ringing on the other side of the docks, so they started running in it's direction. But when they found the mobile, they didn't find Gwen.

"She must have dropped it," Owen groaned.

"Unless it's another one of John's tricks." Tosh said, pulling out a scanner from her bag. "If Gwen used her phone here, then I can use the network to triangulate the location where she made her last call. Got it," Tosh ran off, looking occasionally at her screen, Ianto and Owen at her heels. When Tosh stopped Ianto sniffed the air once more.

"Her scents stronger here. She's in one of these," He pointed to a row of containers, wrenching open the nearest one, Tosh and Owen doing the same on either side of him.  
>"She's here!" Owen cried out, rushing in into the container, kneeling down to where Gwen lay.<p>

"What's wrong with her?" Tosh asked.

"Ianto take a swab, Tosh let's get this thing started." Owen said jumping into Doctor mode.

Once Tosh had got Gwen's results through her laptop she showed them to Owen, her face grim. "He's poisoned her."

"Anti- toxin kit now."

TWTWTWTWTW

Once Gwen was walking and talking again, the team piled into the SUV and relayed each of their stories to each other, making their way around Cardiff..  
>"He's in the hub," Tosh said. "What do we do?"<p>

A knock on the window made them all jump, but when they saw who it was, Owen wound down his window. "I've got just the idea." A grinning Jack said.

TWTWTWTWTW

The team got to John just as he had finished putting together a jigsaw. It was a simple triangle, with the centre piece belonging to the blowfish. He turned and placed it down, away from the rest of the jigsaw.

"So you're pretty and resilient. Is that even fair?"

Gwen took over. "Maybe you didn't realise. You can beat, threaten and even poison us and we'll keep coming back, stronger every time."

"Well I think you ought to know that your boss is splayed out on the..." John's words died in his throat as Jack emerged, smiling as if nothing had happened. "Now that's impressive." It was obvious that finally something had unnerved John. He kept going on about how the trick was impressive, his ramblings getting the better of him. Jack made his way over to John.

"What's in the cannisters?" Gwen asked.

"Time to come clean Captain," Owen said.

"Fine," John said, finally seeming to admit defeat. "That woman I told you about earlier, had herself an Arcadian diamond. It's the rarest gem in the Damascene Cluster. And just when I get my hands on her, she only generates her own personal rift storm. God I hate technological geniuses." He handed over the centre triangle.

"You said that this was a dying woman's request." Tosh asked, not looking sure about whether she wanted to know the answer.

"Yeah she was dying. I shot her. I thought my luck had changed when I found it had ended up here." At this John looked only at Jack, and the nervousness and insecurity that Ianto had felt before came back in full force. Before Jack could say anything, John turned to the team. "So I'm thinking 50-50? Even split, good deal. Or if anyone fancies an orgy?" This bit was directed at Ianto. "I do love myself a good vampire."

TWTWTWTWTW

Once the whole débâcle with John and the bomb that had the power to destroy the whole of Cardiff in minutes was over there were mere seconds left before the rift would close itself up. Gwen was still looking slightly pale, having fully believed that she would have been blown to smithereens along with John because of his damn handcuffs.

Jack stepped forward, his arms crossed and his gaze fuming. "I want you gone," he growled.

"Well we've got to work out how to get these things off first," Gwen shook her arm violently, wincing slightly as her wrists rubbed raw against the cuff.

"Actually," John placed his fingers down his throat and picked out the key. "Old Artesian trick. Keep it in the lining of the throat. It has a lot of uses."

Gwen obviously not impressed by John using her a as 'passport to survival' punched him as soon as she was released.

John turned to the rift once he was released, however before he left he turned to the team once more. "Oh and by the way Jack, I meant to tell you I found Gray." Before Jack could get a proper answer from him, John had disappeared.

"Who's Gray." Gwen asked.

"It's nothing." Jack said, although no-one was convinced. "Let's get back to work," he turned towards the SUV, the team close behind.

This was Torchwood and Captain Jack Harkness was back where he belonged.


	3. Chapter 3

"So where exactly are we going?" Owen asked Jack for the fourth time in ten minutes. When the team had made sure that John wasn't coming back and that there weren't going to be any more rift spikes for that night they knew they would have to avoid themselves for the next 12 hours. Once at the car Jack had jumped into the SUV and had driven off as soon as the others had gotten in.

"You'll see," Jack said, his face breaking into a huge grin.

"Oh come on Harkness, the least you could do is tell us where you're taking us. I could be out on the pull by now, all I've done since last night is work, I haven't been to any clubs or to my house. Neither has anyone else in fact."

"Tough," Jack said grinning. "We are going to have fun tonight,"

"I swear if that's code for us all having an orgy then I'm off,"

"No, but if anyone would prefer to do that then we can put it to a vote."

"God I'm sorry I opened my mouth," Owen muttered looking out of his window.

The car was silent for a few minutes, minus Gwen, Tosh's and Ianto's chuckles from the back, until Jack turned into a car park.

"Here we are kids," he said, turning the car key and putting it in his jacket.

"The Arms Hotel, are you serious Jack?" Gwen gasped. "You need to book for months in advance if you want to stay here, and even then it's so expensive."

"The perks of being Torchwood Gwen," Jack smiled. "Come on kids, lets go relax."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"Ah this is the life," Gwen sighed. As soon as they had checked in, Tosh and Gwen had ran straight to the spa. Their first stop. The hotel's large jacuzzi.

"So you want to hit the sauna next?" Tosh asked.

"Hmmm,"

"Gwen?" Tosh asked, peering over to where the brunette was staring. She smiled when she saw her gazing at a few of guys in their early thirties playfully racing each other around the pool. "I thought you were engaged!"

"Oh I am Tosh, but there really isn't any harm in looking," Gwen winked at Tosh. "You have to admit that they're cute."

"Hmm I suppose you're right," The duo continued to giggle and gossip, something they had never really done before. One of the reasons for it was because although they were the only girls in the team, they had little in common with one another.

Tosh was more comfortable with her computers and alien devices whilst Gwen more often than not would be happy to tackle the more humane side of Torchwood, comforting witnesses and the likes. Neither of the women had reached out to one another before Jack had left, Gwen's affair with Owen doing nothing more than separating them further, but when their Captain had left, the whole team had formed together and subsequently gotten closer, the fact that he was back wasn't going to change that.

One of the men that Gwen had been busy oggling earlier got out of the pool, his friends shouting out a few words of what seemed to be encouragement before laughing, still watching their friend intently. He walked over to the jacuzzi slowly, watching his step on the slippery tiles,seemingly trying his hardest not to slip.

"Urm hi," he stuttered once he had gotten to the two girls.  
>Gwen and Tosh shared a small smile, both wondering exactly where this was going to go.<br>"Me and my friends are going to hit the bar, in the main lounge and we were wondering if you wanted to join us," while the guy was talking to both Gwen and Tosh, he only seemed to have eyes for the young technician, something which wasn't missed by Gwen.

She nudged Tosh, breaking her out of her gaze, so she could reply. Although Gwen would love to spend the rest of the night at the bar, she knew that it would be Tosh's call.

"That would be lovely..."

"Oh Danny," the man smiled nervously.

"Danny, that would be really nice, but we're going to be staying in the spa for a while longer-"

"But," Gwen loudly interrupted. "If you give us.. er I mean Tosh over here your number than we can call you when we've left and meet up with you."

"Right, urrr yes I'll just go find some paper," Danny walked to some nearby lifeguards, the smile on his face blinding.

"What are you doing Gwen?" Tosh rounded on the Welsh woman.

"He's clearly interested in you love, and it's just drinks at the bar. If you don't want to take it further than that then you don't have to, but before you decide to not give Danny a chance, and instead go straight to your hotel room after we've finished down here and work on something Torchwood related, tell me when was the last time you met a random person who you thought was cute and just decided to have some fun and let loose."

"You sound like Owen,"

"Good God I do. But that's not the point, I think the last person you ever opened up to, to give them a chance with a romantic relationship was Mary, and you deserve so much happiness Tosh. You are an amazing person, and I'm not saying you're going to get married to Danny and have 2.4 kids, a dog and live in the countryside, but you deserve to give him at least a chance."

Tosh looked up at Danny, who was walking back over to them, pen and paper in his hands.

_He is pretty cute. _Tosh noted. Definitely her type with his short dark brown hair, which seemed to be naturally curly, although she couldn't make sure, as the pool water was weighing it down.

He had a great body, no fat on him, but he wasn't like some guys she had seen in the gym who were pure muscle which disgusted her. _And he seems to be really nice. We might have loads in common as well. Oh what the hell, what's wrong with just spending some time together. Owen does it all the time. _With her mind made up, Tosh took the paper Danny handed over to her with a shy smile. She got out of the hot tub, and put the paper in her bag to keep it dry.

Turning back she saw Danny waiting nervously by the pool, his two friends by the edge watching with bated breath. "I'll call you in about an hour, we should be finished by then,"

Danny nodded, the look of relief and happiness on his face obvious. "Ok well we'll see you then," he and his two friends left in the direction of the men's changing rooms.

Once they were out of sight Tosh slipped back into the hot tub, not even trying to hide her smile as Gwen gave a little squeal like she was a teenager again.

TWTWTWTWTW

"Are you sure you're ok Owen?"

"For the last time fangs, stop your fucking moaning. I'm fine, more than fine really, that cream you found in the archives the other week is really doing the trick"

"Cream?" Jack looked up from where he was sitting, scanning over the menu for room service.

"Oh yeah Ianto found it in somewhere between the J-M section. We don't know exactly where it was from or when it fell through the rift but it really helps with all types of injuries. Tosh has been trying to find out what's in it so she can make some more when we run out" Owen explained, smearing some more of the green paste onto the bullet sized wound on his hip.

He passed the small round container to Jack who twisted the lid open taking a sniff. "It's from the planet Denantila, for the people who live there it's nothing but a tasty snack, but when people from earth started to spread out across different planets it was found to be a pretty good healing cream. I'm more than certain that some of the raw ingredients needed came through the rift almost twenty years ago. They should be fine to use, I'll give them to Tosh tomorrow."

Owen nodded before standing up. "Well I'm off, I have to fill in so many medical forms because of John bloody Hart it isn't funny." He made his way to the door before turning to Ianto. "Have fun,"

As the door slammed behind the doctor Ianto gave out a barely audible growl.

The room was instantly filled with the same awkward silence that had been present in the office earlier on. "Soooo," Jack said looking to the ground.

"Where were you Jack?" Ianto asked, instantly the Captain's heart broke once again at the defeated tone in voice. "And don't you dare try to avoid the subject like you did before"

"I couldn't let him leave me again," Jack started, swallowing the lump in his throat. "For over a century I have been stuck in Cardiff waiting for him to come back. I needed answers. I needed to know why left me, I needed to know what happened after Rose absorbed the time-vortex, I needed to know the full extent of my immortality."

"If the Doctor could, would you have wanted to be changed back, would you have wanted to be mortal again?" Jack didn't answer this question for a few minutes, trying to figure out a way to phrase it properly.

"I don't think so, had he landed a few weeks earlier than sure, I would have jumped at the chance. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what it's like staying young in a world where friends and family continue to age right in front of you. But then of course I found out about you, for the first time in my life I'm with someone who won't die in a few years because of old age. You're so different from everyone I've ever been with Ianto, and not just because you're a vampire. You're funny and sweet and well if the Doctor could turn me mortal and I accepted it then I think I would regret it for the rest of my life."

"But you were gone for so long Jack, where were you when Saxon sent us around the Himalayas? Where were you when the Rift spat out that radioactive device which ended up killing four people? For Gods sake we turned the news on one day and the newsreader said you were one of Britain's most wanted,"

"I didn't mean to be gone so long, honestly I didn't but things got complicated. I only meant to be with the Doctor for a couple of days, hell if I had it my way you wouldn't have even noticed I was gone. But of course he can't control his bloody time machine."

"How were long were you gone for? I mean for us you were missing for four months but how long for you?"

Jack sighed. "Just over a year." At Ianto's icy glare he continued. "But the majority of the year I wasn't here with you, it was against my will."  
>"How so?" Ianto placed his cold hand over Jack's warm one, sensing that the older man would need some sort of comforting.<p>

"Saxon wasn't human. He was a timelord like the Doctor. But unlike the Doctor he's evil, he goes by the name Master. You saw those Toclofane, the ones that killed the US President right?" Ianto nodded. "Well there were millions of them. The Master set them free on earth, on the first day alone they killed 1/10 of earth's population. For a year he ruled over earth, killing millions of innocent people. He tortured and killed me non-stop, tortured the Doctor as well.

"Martha Jones, the girl the Doctor was travelling with at the time managed to escape the Valiant, for a year she travelled earth, spreading the word of the Doctor. It was the Doctor's plan, he had patched himself into the arc-angel system and then at exactly the right time everyone thought of the same thing. Everyone thought of the Doctor."

"Why can no-one remember this Jack? It was a year of hell, but the last thing I can remember of the Master is him killing the President,"

"Time erased itself. Went back a whole year. Only the people on the Valiant can remember it. The year that never was." By now tears were running down Jack's face, memories of that year pushing their way back to the surface.

Noticing how distressed the Captain was, Ianto led him to one of the three beds in the room. Pulling him into a hug Ianto murmured comforting nothings into his ear. "Sssh it's ok. He's gone, everything's ok," Any annoyance or anger that Ianto had previously felt for Jack had instantly vanished as he realised how much the horrors 'from the year that never was' affected him. Eventually Jack drifted off to sleep, having tired himself out by living through the nightmare of the year. Ianto placed him onto the bed, covering him with a blanket so he could stay warm before making his way back to the desk which had his laptop on and a few unfinished reports.

TWTWTWTWTW

Gwen and Tosh had finished up in spa, dried off, got changed and reapplied their make-up just over an hour after meeting Danny. Tosh sent him a short text before they headed to the bar eight floors below their hotel room. "Are you sure I look ok?" Tosh asked for the fourth time, smoothing down her blouse. Neither of them were wearing anything breathtaking, just their spare work clothes from the SUV, which were luckily devoid of any dirt or alien blood. For Gwen this mean a light green t-shirt and dark skinny pants, whilst Tosh's spare outfit contained was quite similar to her normal attire, professional yet still gave off an elusive air, although instead of her usual office skirt she was wearing a pair of dark leggings as her top was quite long.

"Love you look great, now stop worrying and we can head down."

A few minutes later and the two women entered the bar, instantly spotting Danny and his two friends sitting around a round table. Danny waved the two over and once they had sat down went to get their drinks.

"Thanks," Tosh said, accepting her red wine, trying her best not to blush, whether she was successful or not was another matter.

"No problem," Danny smiled. Turning to the guys beside he pointed "This is Paul and Mark," Gwen and Tosh quickly introduced themselves as well.

"So what brings you to little old Cardiff?" Gwen asked.

"We're here for business, I actually live about an hours drive away, but as the majority of the board meetings are held here at ungodly hours in the morning I thought it would be easier to stay here." Danny explained.

"We live a little further out from Danny, so it's more of a convenience thing than anything else, luckily our company were more than willing to pay for the hotel." Paul took the a final sip from his beer before standing. "I need to go, make sure I have everything ready for tomorrow, I'll see you guys later?" Danny and Mark both nodded as Paul stood up to leave.

"You want to go to the bar and get another drink?" Mark turned to Gwen. She nodded and stood, winking at Tosh before making her way to the bar with Mark, both missing Mark doing the same to Danny.

"Well that wasn't obvious in the slightest," Danny forced a chuckle. "I'm sorry about him, think he must have hit his head one too many times as a baby,"

"Well the same could be said for Gwen," This time the pair both gave a genuine laugh over their meddling friends. "So I'm assuming because of the way your friends were acting that you're single?"

Danny nodded giving a bashful smile. "And I'm hoping that because you took my offer of a drink and the way Gwen was behaving that you're also single?"

"That would be correct," Tosh smiled. "Don't really have time to meet anyone with the hours I work. In fact this is the first night off I've had in a while."

"And I just haven't met the right girl yet," Danny said before giving an undignified snort. "I'm sorry, that was really cheesy."

"Just a little," Tosh said, taking a sip of her wine also smiling.

"It's true though. I haven't gone a proper date for ages, and I think both Mark and Paul are going a little crazy, they've tried to set me up so many times it ceased to be unfunny months ago."

Maybe it was the wine that finally did it. The little buzz she received from the small amount of alcohol she had consumed. Or maybe it was the whole ordeal with John and the return of Captain Jack Harkness that pushed her to do it. Or maybe she was just so god damn sick of being alone that she didn't see the harm in it. Whatever the reason was it didn't make Toshiko Sato regret leaning over to kiss Danny squarely on the lips.

TWTWTWTWTW

The sun rose up early in the morning, and with it saw the Torchwood team packing up their few supplies into the SUV. Both Tosh and Gwen were trying to hide their yawns, the pair had stumbled into their room around three am, after having spent a large majority of the night laughing and talking with Danny and Mark. Tosh played with the little piece of paper with Danny's name and number that was safely in her pocket she daren't lose it, even though she had already saved his number on her phone.

Owen's wound had completely recovered, although it hadn't stopped from trying to get out of packing the car, a technique which hadn't convinced a single member of the team, leaving him grumbling about it for the whole journey back to the hub.

Jack and Ianto had seemingly reached an understanding of some sorts. They quietly flirted in the front seats of the car, although Jack had not once taken it to far. In fact he seemed to be the one, determined to keep it in the more neutral territory. When the team were making their way to the board room, Owen was sure he saw Ianto grab Jack's hand for a brief second before making his way into the meeting room to be debriefed.

The debriefing was fairly short, and within forty five minutes the team were leaving the hub, having already checked that the rift was going to be silent for the next eight hours at least. Jack had stayed on at the base, saying he wanted to check on past reports and missions and to make sure the rift stayed quiet.

Ianto watched as Owen, Tosh and Gwen all drove off to their respective homes before setting off to the Cullen household at a run.

He let himself in and made his way to the living room. "I'm back," he called out and within seconds the entire Cullen clan had made their way into the living room.

"How was it?" Alice asked biting her lip. Over the last few months, the petite vampire had grown to care deeply for the team and was always the first to enquire about their welfare.

"Their all fine. The mission wasn't too complicated. There is one little thing though. Jack's back."

**Yes I know, I haven't updated in months. I am so sorry for that but I want to let everyone reading it to know that I will never abandon this story. I can't promise regular updates (I'm a teenage girl so I'm sorry but exams and general life are my top priorities ) but I will never leave this story unfinished like others I have. I'm also trying to work on ones I haven't updated in years (see Aftermath) so yeah...**

**Until next time **

**Lollzie**


	4. Chapter 4

***Gasp* What is this? Is this actually an update that hasn't taken 6 months? Why I do believe it is! Believe me, I'm just as shocked as you guys that I've managed to write a half decent chapter, but after a long assessment of where I want to go with this story, hopefully I've got some inspiration back.  
>Happy Reading<strong>

To be fair, Ianto had been expecting a much more violent and bloody reaction from his family when they learnt that Jack had returned. He was surprised by the restraint they were showing.

"How dare he show his face around here after what he did to you?" Rosalie screeched.

"I'm going to bloody kill him," Alice growled.

"You better not give in to him," Emmett warned. All in all the Cullen clan all looked murderous, Ianto never thought he had seen any of them look so bloodthirsty before, to be honest it was kind of scary.

Interrupting the various cries of anger and disgust the other vampires and one werewolf were making, Ianto let out a deafening yell.

"Jack has explained to me where he went, and yes, like I thought he was with the Doctor. The Doctor couldn't make him mortal again and Jack told me that he wasn't away for four months willingly. He hoped to be gone for a few hours, that was all. Yes he told me what happened and no I'm not telling you, he trusted me with this information and I refuse to betray him.

"If he chooses to tell anyone then so be it, but at the moment I'm also the only one on the team who knows where he was. He went through hell, but he's back. And I refuse to let any one of you torment him. What was left of our relationship is effectively in tatters but hopefully we can fix it and work on it, maturely like the adults we are."  
>"Thank you Yan for thinking this through maturely." Carlisle said. "You obviously know why we are upset, after all the Captain hurt one of our own, but I believe you when you say he is truly sorry for what has happened between the two of you. He was a trust worthy man when I knew him all those years ago and I can't imagine that much has changed. Forgive us for our terrible behaviour earlier but remember it was a shock for all of us to hear."<p>

"It's ok Carlisle truly. I'm going to my room, today has been truly taxing and I need some time to think through things." With that, Ianto departed from the living room and made his way to his room, closing the door quietly behind him, hoping that some alone time would clear his crowded head.

TWTWTWTWTW

The Cullens watched as Ianto made his way to his room and once he'd shut the door behind him started whispering in urgent tones.

"Can't let Harkness get away with this,"

"He was a wreck when Jack left, surely he won't let him swan back in?"

"Oh the poor lamb, I hope he feels better soon,"

"Surely Jack wasn't expecting for things to be like they once were,"

"Everyone be quiet." Carlisle demanded in a soft tone, although everyone was still wary, even more so than if he had screamed at them. "We must do as Ianto wishes. Which is to not bother him, or anyone from Torchwood including Jack Harkness. Am I understood."  
>Everyone in the room nodded their consent before getting on with what they were doing before Ianto had arrived. Rosalie nudged Emmett.<p>

"Come on I'm hungry." Emmett looked at his wife, feeling confused when he saw that her eyes still had an amber hue to them, although his confusion cleared when Rosalie whispered into his ear and his face formed into excited glee.

"See ya guys," he called, practically dragging the small blonde woman with him in his excitement.

Once they had got to a small clearing in the woods he pressed his body onto Rosalie's and started to kiss her. His wife kissed him hungrily back before pushing away.

"Not yet," she said, a trace of regret in her eyes. "First we need to pay Captain Jack Harkness a little visit, don't you think Em?"

TWTWTWTWTW

Skimming through another report Jack suppressed a yawn. The captain was impressed with how well the team had coped with out him, sharing out his jobs equally to one another. Even all the reports were up to date, although Jack knew that was more to Ianto's presence than anything else.

He could be damn scary at times, and had probably used his most popular punishment (dishing out instant coffee to whoever he believed deserved it) to keep everyone in line with the paperwork.

Of course, because all the paperwork was up to date meant that there was a lot for Jack to get through. It wasn't mandatory, there were no forms for him to sign – Ianto obviously forging his signature whenever necessary, he had informed Jack that Unit and the PM were unaware of his disappearance the previous evening, the team hadn't wanted anyone to come barging in with the intention of taking over Cardiff- but he felt a sense of duty that he should be aware of any of the goings on in the past four months.

However after two hours of continuous reading and five cups of badly made coffee Jack had, had enough. His brain felt like it was going to melt with an overload of information and he knew if he didn't go outside for some fresh air and a short break soon, he'd probably go mad.

Dumping his mug in the sink and shrugging on his coat Jack hopped on the lift and made his way up to the Plass. For a few minutes he simply observed the people hurrying past him, they would never know of the hell they had once lived through. Never know how they and their families were brutally slaughtered or made into slaves.

And for that Jack was pleased. It was bad enough that he had to remember the hellish experience and relive it in his dreams, but at least he one of only a few. Most people wouldn't be able to remember the torture they had lived through and stay sane, however the majority of people who were still alive on the Valiant by the end of the year, weren't too badly injured physically or even scarred mentally for that fact. Not compared to him anyway.

They would have seen their friends and family die, would have seen their homes burnt to the ground, their world slowly destroyed but never had the Master hunted down anyone's loved ones and tortured them on the ship in front of them. Well except for Jack that was.

The Master did everything in his power to break Jack in every single way. The horrors that he had seen in the year that never was, would haunt him for years, if not decades to come.

Shaking himself out of his morbid thoughts Jack waited for the the perfect moment, before stepping off the lift, hidden so well by the perception filter.

He walked in the direction of a local bakery, they did the nicest pastries Jack had ever had. His mind full of all the possible sweet and sticky treats he could have for lunch, the immortal Captain completely missed the two pairs of cold amber eyes, following him across the Plass intently.

TWTWTWTWTW

When Tosh entered her flat the first thing she did was flop down on her sofa. Three and a half hours sleep was not a substantial amount, meaning she was exhausted. Turning on the TV Tosh started flicking through the various daytime shows before settling on a repeat of a soap. Tosh dozed for a couple of hours, the screaming of various people on her TV screen not doing a lot to help her stay awake, the low volume her TV was set on not doing much to help admittedly, not that she wanted to stay awake.

Her plan was to get back to the hub by five, as long as she wasn't needed of course. That would mean she could check on the rift predicator well before the eight hour period of peace Jack had predicted was up. If all was to remain quiet then she would probably leave around ten, giving her plenty of time to tinker with some of the latest gadgets that had fallen through the rift. However if there was something due to fall through, or if Jack needed to help going through any of the latest missions or even the budgeting, she knew that she could possibly be staying all night.

All the more reason to rest up.

TWTWTWTWTW

Chocolate éclairs were the bees knees. It was official, Jack decided as he bit into the creamy treat. The headache was now gone, as the immortal captain tried his best not to drip cream all over his shirt, the sugar in his system helping plenty with that. Once the éclair had been scarfed down, Jack pulled out a ringed doughnut and took a large bite.

"Hrghhh," Emphasising his delight at the sweetness of the pudding, something he had been deprived of for the last year, Jack smiled, ignoring the wary looks he was getting from passer bys. Normally he would not have gone into the bakery and spent over £20 on various puddings, after all, when you spend your whole life chasing down aliens and saving the world it was best to stay in shape. But after a year on living on meagre scraps, Jack knew he deserved something sugary, not that the baker would have agreed with him.

By this time he had left the main street and was on one of the smaller side roads which would lead straight to the Plass. A high-pitched whistle caught Jack's attention, but as he turned, looking for the person who made the noise he saw nothing.

"Finally cracked," he murmured before turning to walk back the hub. He had only gone a couple of yards before the same high pitched whistle was sounded again. This time Jack was pretty sure it was coming from the side alley that he had just passed on his right. He turned, placing the cake bag in one of his great jacket's large pockets whilst making sure he had his webley on him. After all it was better to be safe than sorry.

Experience had taught him that.

"Hello?" he called out warily once he entered the alley way. There was no response, but Captain Jack Harkness was no coward. He continued walking, when lesser men would have turned and ran. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled up, but still the Captain kept walking. A loud crash caught his attention, he turned pulling the gun out and aiming it, at the direction of the noise. Two dustbins had merely toppled over, but there was no sign of what had made them tumble.

Unless... Jack turned once more, coming face to face with a murderous looking Rosalie Cullen.

TWTWTWTWTW

Tosh was awakened by the violent buzzing of her phone, accompanied by an equally loud text tone. Yawning, she checked the time, surprised to see it was already quarter past three, before opening the text.

**Hey**

**Wondered if you wanted to go out for a drink tomorrow? **

**Danny x**

A dopey smile graced Tosh's lips before she sent a short reply, telling Danny she'd love to as long as she wasn't to busy at work. Within minutes Danny had sent back a time and place and Tosh felt butterflies in her stomach for the first time in months.

It was good to have something out of Torchwood, for too long she had been so involved in her job that her already stilted social life became non-existent. Tosh didn't have a clue if anything would happen with Danny, but like Gwen had said the previous night it was good to have fun. And fun was what she was going to have! Everyone had or did something outside of their job, Gwen had Rhys, Owen had pubs, clubs and the company of promiscuous young women, Ianto had his family and Jack sort of had Ianto, and even if he didn't it wasn't hard for him to find company for the night if he really was desperate for someone to warm the bed. But Tosh; she had no-one, nothing except her gadgets and gizmos.

That was going to change, she promised herself. She was not going to let Torchwood ruin a potential relationship for her. She'd had enough of mooning over Owen, who whilst (in Tosh's opinion) a lovely guy deep down, refused to see her as anything but a friend. However Danny had seemed instantly attracted to her, and if there was a chance of having something with anyone, then Tosh would grab on to it with both hands and refuse to let go.

With that decided Tosh got up, cracking her back before making her way to her bedroom to plan an outfit for Danny.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Rosalie smirked as she backed Jack into a wall, her amber eyes flashing dangerously.

"Did you really think we would let you just swan on back into Ianto's life like you'd never left." Emmett growled, seemingly appearing from no-where.

"I never meant to hurt him," Jack protested loudly. "I didn't even know I would be missing this long."

"Yeah well too bad," Rosalie snarled, her hands forming a tight grip around his neck, effectively cutting off his air supply. "You hurt one of our own _Captain _and you never mess with the Cullens. Not if you don't want to stay alive that is."

Jack pushed Rosalie as hard as he could. He didn't know what he was expecting to happen, after all she was much stronger than he was, and the fact that he had been weakened with the severe lack of oxygen really didn't help matters. However it must have been Rosalie's pure arrogance that led Jack to a small victory, as she stumbled back in apparent shock, leaving Jack to breath in large lungfuls of blessed air.

"Don't you dare say I don't care for Ianto," he said, stepping forward. "He has been the first true shot at happiness I've had in years, I left to go to the Doctor to find answers. I needed to know what happened to me, why I'm like this. I needed to know if this is truly permanent. Once I got my answers I wanted to return. Believe me. But certain... events happened, preventing me from doing so."

"Then why didn't you try harder," Rosalie snarled. "He was a wreck without you. He trusted you with our secret, and you just upped and left. You bastard!" Consumed by rage, Rosalie went to launch at Jack again, fully prepared to tear him apart limb by limb. Even Emmett jumping in front of her and trying his best to calm her with soothing words; like one may do with a rabid beast, had little effect.

The attempted attack was only halted once the blonde beauty had been tackled to the floor. However it wasn't Emmett who had stopped his wife, after all he hadn't been in the right position and if he left his spot for a fraction of a second, Jack would have been torn apart, limb by limb. No, the one to stop the brawl was the mind reader of the family.

_Figures he'd show up eventually_ Emmett thought, knowing it was impossible to hide anything in the family with Edward Cullen present. Which was why Rosalie had whispered into his ear about needed some _private _time, in the hopes that Edward wouldn't have realised what her plan had been all along. Everything slotted into place.  
>"What are you doing," Edward snarled at Rosalie. "Ianto already told us that he didn't want us anywhere near Jack."<p>

"I was doing what everyone else in this family were to scared to do," the blonde shouted. "He needed to be taught a lesson,"

"And who are you to decide? Ianto has every right to a private life as the rest of us, we should respect his wishes and leave well enough alone,"

"You can't say you're happy about this? You saw Ianto when that _bastard _left."

"Yes I did, but I know that Ianto can look after himself, he's strong Rosalie. Lets go," Within seconds both Emmett and Rosalie had vanished. "I'm sorry Captain," Edward said, a look of true remorse making itself obvious on his face. "They both know better, but couldn't see past their initial anger at you. I'll be having... serious words with them later tonight."

Jack nodded, the bruises that appeared around his neck had already healed and he could barely feel anything now. "Don't go too harsh on them, they had every right to be angry, you all do in fact. I left Ianto, but I never meant to be gone for this long."  
>"I believe you, I can see into your mind and whilst I'm still not sure on the full extent of the horrors you witnessed in that year I know you truly care for Ianto." Edward made to leave before turning to the Captain once more. "However it may be a while before the rest of my family fully forgive you, I will be making sure nothing like this happens again but you have some serious grovelling to do."<p>

"Yeah I know that already. Don't go too harsh on Emmett and Rosalie though, they were protecting one of their own and for that I can only respect them."

"I'll try," Edward gave a grim smile before leaving in a split second.

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack had been back for only half an hour before Tosh entered the hub. "What're you doing here so early? It's only five, no-one else will be here for another hour at least,"

"I know," Tosh shrugged. "But I wanted to check the rift predicator and look at something that came through a couple of days ago,"

"Okay. Just make sure you don't work yourself too hard," Jack said, determined to take a more active role in his team's health and general personal life now that he was back.  
>"I'll be fine Jack," The Captain gave a tight smile, still feeling slightly shaken at the recent events, he was fully intending on spending the next hour cooped up in his office, drowning in paperwork to keep his mind occupied when Tosh called out to him. "I'm glad you're back, things were... different without you around."<p>

"Yeah well, I'm glad I'm back to, and believe me when I say this, I'm not planning on going away for a long time."


	5. Chapter 5

**A bit of a shorter chapter than normal, but an updates and update right? Not much action in this chapter, but don't worry something big will happen soon. **

**Happy reading :) **

Six o'clock rolled around and as it did both Gwen and Owen arrived, making their way to their desks soundlessly. Jack was still in his office and the team all started on their various projects in a tense silence. No-one dared break it, Jack was still feeling shaken up and was more than nervous about approaching his team, they had proven that they didn't need him any more, an action which more than stung.

The fact that he had been absent for four months had also caused some tension, the Captain had no clue as to what had happened to any of his team in that time, except of course Gwen getting engaged. For those reasons he kept himself in his office, silently hoping that Ianto would arrive, although as the minutes ticked by, it was looking like a less likely possibility.

In the main area of the hub, the three mortal members of Torchwood didn't dare say a word to break the awkward silence that had descended over the hub. They didn't have a clue what Jack was doing in his office, but none of them had the courage to go up to him and interrogate him for his actions.

As 6:45 rolled past Owen let out a frustrated groan, throwing a bloody scalpel on the medical bay floor.

"This is ridiculous," he moaned, as Tosh and Gwen gave him inquisitive glances. "We're not going to get anywhere at this rate, Jack fucking Harkness has locked himself in his office and we're all too pussy to talk to him. And where's fucking teaboy? He should have been here ages ago, we all know he's the only one that can get Harkness out of this slump, surely he should have been the first one to be here, not like he needs to rest or anything."  
>"What are you suggesting we do Owen?" Tosh asked dryly, going back to the translation programme running on her computer screen.<p>

Muttering under his breath Owen pulled out his phone and called Ianto, after a few minutes of silence he threw it on the autopsy table and spat out a couple of choice swears. "He's not bloody answering."

"Do you think he's ok?" Tosh asked, looking slightly concerned by this point. "He's never been late and it's not like him to ignore his phone,"

"He's fine-" Gwen started before being interrupted by the now frantic technician.

"But what if he isn't, anything could have happened to him in the last eight hours, we really shouldn't have left him alone, not after Jack came back like this,"

"Tosh I know he's fine, because he's walking to the tourist office now," Gwen said, turning her computer screen around to give Tosh a clear view. "Although he looks slightly mutinous right now, so it would probably be best to leave him alone. You got that Owen?"  
>Before the doctor could reply with an undoubtedly sarcastic comment the hub door rolled open, without even a greeting from the vampire, Ianto rushed to the office door before closing it behind him. The locking noise of the office door was loud and echoing in the silence of the startled hub.<p>

"Charming," Owen said, rolling his eyes.

TWTWTWTWTW

"I am so sorry," Ianto said once the office door had been locked, startling Jack out of his stupor, he hadn't even noticed the hub alarms going off, only 30 seconds earlier.

"For what?" He asked, the confusion obvious on his face.

"Rosalie and Emmett. Edward told me as soon as they got home, which is also why I'm late, I've spent the better part of the last two hours chewing them out for their actions."

"I hadn't even noticed you were late." Jack said, shocked to see it was already ten to 7. When had that happened?  
>A grim smile passed over Ianto's face. "You freaked out then? Yeah, vampires tend to have that affect on people when they want to. But I'm promising you now that they won't go anywhere near you again, not if I can help it anyway. What those two did was out of order, and not what I stand for, nor the rest of the family either."<p>

"It's fine. I'm fine," Jack insisted, closing the file he was working on, he had the feeling he wouldn't be getting a lot more work done.

"No you're not," Ianto said, sitting down in the seat opposite Jack, picking up the newly closed file and flicking through it. "You're shaken up, which freaks you out even more because you haven't felt like this in years. But for the first times in decades you've come across creatures that are pure enigmas. After all, we haven't been traumatised by the rift like so many aliens have, we can fit into society without anyone realising, without you realising. But then we can turn into heartless killing machines, and everyone knows that the vampire always gets their prey."

"Stop it," Jack said quietly. "You're not a monster,"

Ianto snorted. "I've killed people Jack, I killed my own family for God's sake. Of course I'm a monster."

"I thought we'd already discussed this. You weren't in control then, you haven't killed anyone in years. You're a vegetarian vampire, if that doesn't scream determination and a pure soul I don't know what does,"

"You've changed the subject," Ianto said arching an eyebrow, not feeling up to entering the age old debate over him being a monster or not.

"Yes," Jack replied, without missing a beat. He had missed talking to Ianto like this. "I have, and I'm doing it again. Did you mean it when you said yes to going on a date with me last night?"

"Why? Nervous Captain?" Ianto gave a throaty laugh as Jack's pulse quickened at his low tone. That man was impossible.  
>"No, just wondering is all, don't want to have to cancel on all my other dates if you're not going to amuse me,"<p>

"One of many am I?"

"Yup, I believe your scheduled in for the beginning of the night."

"And what if I don't want to share?"

"Looks like Cardiff is going to be full of heartbroken men,"

"Hmmm shame. So rift permitting tomorrow evening."  
>"I'll see you there,"<p>

"Good. I better go, got lots to do in the archives. _Sir," _With that Ianto stood and sauntered to the office door, knowing full well where Jack's attention was currently held.

TWTWTWTWTW

"You did deserve that you know," Edward said, holding back his smile as Rosalie casually sat on the couch, her shaken expression and Ianto's shouting beforehand however had the whole family aware of what had happened before.

"Oh shut up Edward. I was only doing what everyone else in this house was too scared to do."

"Whether we think that the Captain should be punished isn't up to us, Ianto is the only one who can decide what happens between the two of them. You just need to learn to be more respectful of his wishes."

"Oh no," Rosalie jumped up from the sofa. "Don't you dare pin all the blame onto me."

"It is kind of her fault," an amused Jake muttered to Nessie from the kitchen.

"Shut up wolf, before I tear you apart limb by limb." Rosalie screeched. Jake's only response was a loud laughter before turning back to his conversation with his wife.

"Ignore Jake, he's only trying to annoy you," Emmett said from the other side of the room, turning away from his chat with Bella and Jasper.

"I know what he's trying to do," Rosalie snarled. "I'm just saying that I was the only one here with the balls to defend one of our own. Why is everyone treating me like I've murdered the bloody Pope or something."

"We know you trying to help Ianto, but next time you're just going to have to calm down." Edward soothed, steering her outside the house in hopes of having a more private chat. "From what I can tell, Ianto has pretty much forgiven the Captain. Jack was telling the truth when he said that he wasn't away voluntarily. He saw some terrible things whilst away, and most of the time yearned to be with Ianto. It's only early days for them, and so far it's been anything but smooth but I do honestly believe they could go the distance."

Rosalie nodded, mulling over her brother's words. "Ok. I'll give him a chance, I don't like it, but if he makes Ianto happy I guess I'll stop terrorizing him. Although if he hurts Ianto again no-one will be able to stop me killing that bastard."

"I'll keep that in mind," Edward smiled, pulling the blonde into a hug.

"Good. Oh and Edward. Thank you,"

TWTWTWTWTW

"Guys the pizzas are here," Tosh alerted the teams over the comms. Within seconds Ianto sped into the main area of the hub to the coffee machine, startling Owen who had quickly been logging off and placing files away.

"Jesus Christ," he yelled loudly, dropping the papers he was carry. "Do you have to keep doing that?"

Gwen giggled from her computer, before logging off and making her way to the conference room.

"Yeah yeah, very funny Cooper," the doctor grumbled, picking up the papers.

"I'd never thought I'd live to see the day Doctor Owen Harper tidied up after himself," Jack said, his eyes shining with amusement as he emerged from the office.

"Yeah, well we all had to do a bit of growing up when you left us," Owen said darkly, throwing the file on his desk, before walking over to Tosh and taking one of the bags. The technician shot Jack an apologetic look before walking to the conference room, whispering viciously into Owen's ear.

In just once second the atmosphere in the hub had turned from carefree and jovial to tense and icy. Jack's carefree smile turned into a hardened frown and he swore quietly at his tactlessness.

"He didn't mean it," Ianto said softly, startling the immortal.

"Yes he did," Jack sighed, turning to face Ianto. "They all resent me, even you do. A little bit at least," Jack continued upon seeing Ianto opening his mouth to protest.

"They'll get over it," Ianto said. "I already have. It's not like you wanted to leave us for as long as you did anyway."

"You forgave me because I told you what happened," Jack mused. "I doubt you would have done so other wise."

"Maybe not straight away." Ianto shrugged. "But eventually I would have taken you up on that offer of a date."

"Is that so," the captain chuckled, before turning quiet. "I should tell them," When Ianto said nothing, merely picked up the tray of coffee mugs Jack sighed. "You think I should tell them too."

"Only if you think you can trust them enough. Since you left, we've been trying to operate on trust as much as we can. Us not knowing you were immortal, you not knowing I was a vampire, plus many other events almost tore this team apart. I think if you told the others the basics of what you went through, it doesn't even have to be a lot, but I think it would really help re-establish your role of leader again."

Jack nodded before making his way to the conference room. "Into the lions den it is then," he muttered quietly, although Ianto still heard, judging by his quiet chuckle.


	6. Chapter 6

Owen, Tosh and Gwen were talking quietly in the meeting room as they unpacked the various meals onto the table, however they fell into an uneasy silence as the two immortal men walked into the room. Sighing quietly Jack walked over to his seat at the head of the table, pulling a plate over to himself before piling it skyhigh with food. Ianto gave a pointed look to the others before sitting on Jack's right, handing the various coffee's to the correct person.

"Cheers," Jack thanked taking a large gulp, wincing at the burn of the hot liquid. Placing the mug back on the table he said softly "You don't have to sit with us if it makes you uncomfortable,"

"It's fine," Ianto shrugged. "Makes me feel... normal I guess."

The team fell into an uneasy silence, four out of the five members picking at their food, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"I was gone for just over a year," Jack started, breaking everyone else out of their thoughts, in the corner of his eye he saw Ianto give a reassuring smile. Looking up he saw that he had the others full attention, so taking a deep breath he began. "The reason I left was to see if the Doctor could fix me. Or at least explain the reason I became immortal. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms the first time we separated and I had a lot of unanswered questions. But I promise you that I didn't mean to be gone for as long I was."

"What did _he_ tell you? I mean we know you still can't die, but do you know why?" Owen asked, tearing at his pizza.

"Yeah he did. He told me that when I was brought back the first time, it was because a friend of mine had absorbed the time vortex and willed me to live. Obviously she couldn't control it and I became a 'fixed point in time and space'."

"What stopped you coming back?" Gwen asked sharply. "You said you didn't mean to be away for so long, but what stopped you Jack?"

Noticing that he'd tensed, Ianto placed a comforting hand on his shoulder with a warning "Gwen," to silence the woman, although Jack noted it could probably be mistaken as a growl.

"No it's all right Yan," he soothed the protective vampire. Yes the memories hurt, and looking back was not doing anything for Jack's mental stability he knew he had to do it. The team deserved answers, they had been loyal to him for so long, the fact that they had taken him back into the fold even after his prolonged absence showed that he could truly trust them. "We were first brought back to the end of the universe. Everything was dying, there was nothing, just a handful of human in the furtherest corners, holding on to life. But then we had to go back. To this time, you all remember Harold Saxon I presume?"

"The psycho Prime Minister from a few months back?" Owen asked, looking interested. "People were saying he was an alien, but we couldn't find a lot more out, UNIT were in charge of the operation after what happened on the Valiant, taken charge when we were still in the bloody Himalayas. They weren't eager to share with the obviously more experienced and superior team either."  
>Jack couldn't stop the small laugh after that comment, it was so typical Owen. God how he'd missed that man and his biting comments, Ianto with his sarcastic comebacks, Gwen with her caring nature and Tosh with her genius. They were his family, he loved them all and he knew that with their help and support he could get over this.<p>

It might take time, but Jack was confident that he could win their trust back, but this time it would be a two-way thing. And he'd start it off by telling them about the basics of the year that never was. So taking a deep breath, Jack started his tale. The scariest of the stories he knew and the most painful of the lot.

TWTWTWTWTW

By the time Jack had finished his telling his team about the basics of his time away; just over an hour had passed. The pizza had been long finished and whilst the atmosphere in the hub was morose after hearing what had happened to Jack during the year that never was there was something else present that hadn't been there previously. It was hope, finally this team could start becoming a proper family. They were all on much even footing now and everyone felt better about it.

Jack wasn't an idiot though, he knew his team needed to time to let this information to sink in. They all needed some time to think things over, so when they all re-entered the main part of the hub, Jack instantly over to one of the computers and opened up the rift predication programme.

"I think we should just call it a day guys, everyone's still exhausted and everything seems to be in the clear till at least 3am tomorrow when there's a minor spike. I can probably handle it on my own, but Owen you're on duty so keep your phone on in case I need your help. If not, everyone get here tomorrow between eight and nine."

Nodding the team thankfully started packing up, Owen grumbling under his breath about the unfairness and the blatant favouritism shown. Within five minutes only Ianto and Jack were left in the hub.

"So I was thinking," Jack begun, catching Ianto's attention from the computer programme he was working on half-heartedly. "That date we were talking about, well I was thinking- I mean we don't have to, but well there's no time better than the present." He finished awkwardly, cursing his awkwardness around the vampire. Normally he could charm the pants off of any sort of creature (quite literally in some cases) and that would be that, but with Ianto it was different. Sure they could hold normal conversations and flirt like there was no tomorrow, but as soon as he tried to get serious, he instantly started stumbling over his words and became near incoherent.

"Are you asking me out on a date _tonight_ sir?" Ianto blinked owlishly.

"Urmm, well that is if you want. I get that it's getting a bit late and if you have plans that's fine, but I know this place that are - umphh," Jack was interrupted when ice cold lips were on his. Immediately losing his train of thought, Jack lost himself in the sensations surrounding him. Licking Ianto's bottom lip, the vampire immediately parted his mouth and Jack took his chance, deepening the kiss, not being able to resist a smile as Ianto moaned quietly, trailing a hand down lightly the Captain's chest.

All too soon Ianto pulled away, his eyes dark with lust. "I need to feed the weevils sir and go home and get changed. Got to be presentable after all. But I'll be back here just after nine. If that fits your plans?" Jack nodded lightly. "Good, I'll see you then," The two shared another heated kiss but Jack was the one to pull away this time, a throaty chuckle following as Ianto gave an involuntary whine.

"I expect you to be back here on time, unlike this morning," Winking, Jack turned and sauntered to his office, feeling Ianto's gaze on his.

Boy was this going to be fun.

TWTWTWTWTW

"Want me to give you a lift Tosh?" Owen asked as they left the hub shortly after Jack dismissed them. "Could go to the pub, I mean I know Gwen's gone back to Rhys for a 'romantic evening' and I dread to think what Jack and Ianto will get up to tonight but we could still have a laugh right? After all today has been a massive waste of our time and I need a drink."

"Oh no thanks Owen, I've got plans tonight," Tosh said, checking through her bag.

"Hmm?" Owen's interest was piqued, it was rare for Tosh to have plans outside of work. He was pretty sure that it was the first time since Mary that Tosh was doing something.

"I have a date," she answered back distractedly, still looking for her phone. So distracted she didn't notice that Owen seemed to choke on thin air.

"Anyone I know," the medic asked once he got his breath back.

"I don't think so. He's called Danny and I met him last night in The Arms and we had a few drinks. We were meant to go out tomorrow but with this job you can never be sure if you'll be free, so I messaged him earlier and asked if he was free tonight instead. We're meeting at a bar in Mermaid Quay, it's only 5 minutes to walk." Finding her phone, Tosh started typing immediately, a small smile appearing on her face.

"That him then?" Owen asked coolly.

Pressing send, Tosh looked up, the smile still present. "Yeah, actually I better go, don't want to be late."

"I'm happy for you Tosh," Owen said quietly, as she walked out of the car park, a slight spring in her step. "Truly."

TWWTWTWTW

Ianto hadn't felt so nervous and excited for anything like this in months, perhaps even years. He had left the hub about half an hour after he had gone down to feed the weevils. Normally it wouldn't take so long, but he had gone back up to the main part of the base afterwards to _clean up_, which actually meant that he was doing his best to distract Jack and have some _fun_. Unfortunately for him Jack wasn't easily distracted, it seemed like he was taking this whole date thing seriously, and apart from those two amazing kisses after lunch, the immortal had shown great restraint. Ianto was impressed. And also frustrated.

The fact that Jack was taking the date so seriously was the reason why Ianto was experiencing so many emotions. He hadn't been on a proper date for almost nine months and even then he'd been in a stable long-term relationship so there weren't exactly any need for nerves. The last time he'd been on a first date was almost three years ago with Lisa. Whilst he'd been nervous, he had also been in control of the situation, planned the date to the finest detail to make sure everything went to plan. But this time Jack was in charge, he was planning the date and whilst Ianto believed it would be truly memorable (after all this was Captain Jack Harkness) he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about what would happen during said date.

It had just gone quarter to nine and Ianto was buttoning his waist-coat, ready to leave the house in minutes. Although he'd arrived back at the family home a few hours back, he hadn't been interrupted by the others. A rare thing, knowing his family and their curious and slightly intrusive nature. But that didn't mean that they weren't aware of his plans, within minutes of arriving he'd heard the distinctive squeal of Alice, who had either seen the date happen or had been informed by Edward. Either way, there was no way that the rest of the family didn't know about his evening plans.

Just as he was slipping on his shoes, Alice skipped in the room. "You're going to love it," She said, practically buzzing. "It's very romantic and-"

"All right Alice let him breathe," Emmett chuckled. "Need us to duff him up for you? As a warning not to mess with you of course,"

"One, I'm not a woman Em, so there's no need to go defending my honour, however misguided. And two I'm pretty sure you and Rosalie did that yesterday. No need to give him another heart attack,"

"You're no fun," Emmett chuckled, yelping as Alice hit him on the shoulder.

"Ignore him Ianto," Alice smiled. "You look very dashing, but here," She leant over and swapped Ianto's dark blue tie for a bright red one. "Jack _likes _you in red much more, and it matches your shirt better."

Smiling he looked down at his watch. "Thank you Alice, I better be going now, otherwise I'll be late."

"Have fun," She called, as Ianto made his way out of the house, ignoring the other similar cries of encouragement from his family.

He arrived at the base just before nine, just as he promised and entered the base, the alarm alerting Jack to his arrival. The captain unlike him, seemed to be completely at ease and was casually munching on some toast, and although there was nothing else on the plate next to him, the amount of crumbs surrounding him showed that the slice of toast wasn't his first.

"Urmm, I'm not being funny but if we're going to go to dinner surely you shouldn't be filling yourself up beforehand. Your speedy metabolism won't last forever."

"Oh very funny. And we're not going to dinner, despite what I'd said in the office the other day. That was mainly blabbering on my part, sorry about that. I don't see much part in going to dinner when one half of the date can't even eat, it's also incredibly cliché."  
>"So where are we going then?"<p>

"Ahh you'll just have to wait and see," Jack stood up, brushing crumbs off his shirt and pulling his coat on, before picking up a small duffel bag. "Shall we Mr Jones?"

"I would be honoured Mr Harkness," The two men walked onto the lift, standing in a comfortable silence as they were entered the Plass.

"Come on Ianto, it's a lovely evening and where we're going is walking distance."

"Everything is walking, or well running distance for me,"

"Oh har-har Sonic. Come on then, don't want to be late."

"You going to let me know where we're going?"

"Now where would the fun be in that? Surprises are good for the soul anyway,"

"I'm not sure that's true, but okay then,"

TWTWTWTWTW

The pair arrived at a small park about twenty minutes after leaving the hub. "And we're here,"

"And here is?" Ianto asked looking slightly bemused.

"Tonight, for one night only mind, The Díchéillí."

"And who exactly are The Díchéillí when they''re at home."

"They're a ceilidh band, I'm sure you're familiar with that sort of music." When Ianto nodded, Jack continued. "Well they're playing in a sort of outdoor concert tonight, right here. Very civillised and hopefully enough to you impress you,"

"Hmm I'm not sure," Ianto teased. "Bit low-key for me,"

"Oh hush you," Jack took his hand, and the two walked to the centre of the park. The band had set up on a small stage and were playing light music. A dozen other couples were spread out around the park, some lying on picnic blankets whilst others were sat on small lawn chairs which were set up around the stage, ready for people to take as they pleased. Although it was only early April it was comfortable heat, a warm breeze warming everyone through. Although this didn't do anything for the Jack or Ianto, both bodies able to easily cope with any sort of temperature, whether it be hot or cold with ease. Paper lantern lights were hanging from trees around, emitting a warm glow around the area.

Opening the bag, Jack pulled a chequered picnic blanket from the bag and lay it on the ground. The two men lay casually on the blanket, as the music started, providing instant background noise and preventing awkwardness from occurring. Although it wasn't likely to happen with the chemistry constantly sparking between the two.

"I meant it you know," Jack started. At Ianto's questioning look he started again. "I want to do this properly. Dates, talking, trust, the whole shebang. We're both mature adults and we, quite literally have all the time in the world. What's stopping us from doing this properly?"

"You're quite right,"

"Aren't I always," Jack laughed, waggling his eyebrows.

"So if we're going to do this properly, and actually have proper conversations this time round, where should we start?"

"How about from the beginning?" Jack leant in for a gentle kiss. Before he could Ianto leant slightly back.

"You serious? About doing this right?"

"Deadly," This time Ianto didn't lean away.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is set the evening Beth was shot in the episode Sleeper, it becomes obvious but the first couple of paragraphs may be a bit confusing otherwise without knowing that.**

"Alright everyone, I think we should just go home," Jack sighed. It had been two weeks since he had returned to Cardiff and things had been going well. Him and Ianto had gone from strength to strength, they had gone a few more dates since the night in the park and their relationship was better than it had been before Jack had left. In fact the whole team seemed to be doing much better.

Gwen was practically shaking with excitement about her upcoming wedding and there was always a bridal magazine to be found somewhere in the hub. He had found out about Toshiko's new relationship a few days after it had begun along with Ianto and despite some good natured ribbing from the others she seemed to be happy and Jack was pleased for her. For too long she had been on her own and he was glad she had found someone. The only person who was exactly the same was Owen. He was just as snarky as ever, and more often than not started the day with a killer hangover and reeking of sex.

Jack would be more concerned over his behaviour if it was anything out of the ordinary, ever since he had begun working at Torchwood, Owen would turn up after a busy night out with only a few hours sleep in him. But with a cup of Ianto's coffee and Owen's own special hangover cure that he had formulated a few years back, he was soon back to his usual _cheery _self and always got the job done.

Jack had thought he'd finished with that side of life a few months back, but maybe with the tiny extra bit of freedom that came with gaining another member of staff (or getting back) and therefore having slightly less duties, he had taken advantage of his free nights.

"Are you sure Jack?" Tosh asked, looking away from where Gwen was sat on the worn out sofa, tears still streaming down her face.

He gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, you have a date with Danny boy tonight don't you?"

"I could cancel, I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Tosh said immediately.

"Don't you dare Tosh. You go home, have a shower and meet up with him. And then if the moods right you can always bring him back to yours," Jack openly laughed as Tosh flushed beet red, turning to log off and collect her stuff.  
>"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, ignoring Jack's wolf whistle as the cog wheel door shut behind her.<p>

Looking up to the balcony where they'd shot Beth down, he saw Ianto on his hands and knees scrubbing furiously, although he paused when he felt Jack's eyes on him. "I better do it now, otherwise it'll only stain,"

"All right Ianto, but when you've finished go home. I've stolen you away enough recently, and I'm sure your family would like to see you on occasion. Same goes for both of you," he said, turning to Gwen and Owen, the former still on the ratty little couch whilst the latter was in the autopsy bay, Beth ready to be autopsied. "Gwen, a word before you go," He needed to make sure she was okay with what had happened, after they had shot Beth down she had barely said a word, and Jack needed to put her mind at ease, as well as he could anyway, considering the circumstances.

When the pair left the office about half an hour later, Ianto had long gone but Owen was still fiddling away in the autopsy bay. "I told you to go home Owen," Jack said sternly as Gwen collected her coat.

Rolling his eyes, Owen started disinfecting some needed equipment for the autopsy. "Haven't got anything better to do with my night mate, might as well. Don't think I'd be able to sleep anyway, so thought I might as well start on Beth." At this he lowered his voice. Gwen had grown close to the sleeper agent in the short time they had known each other and Owen knew she was upset by her untimely death.

"All right, just make sure you get home at a decent time, I don't need you being completely sleep-deprived. I'm going out for a bit, but I should be back by two or three, and believe me when I say that I will tie you to a bed if you haven't got some shut-eye when I get back."

"Sounds kinky captain," Owen teased. "Now get on with ya, everyone knows you're just going to see fangs and try to sweet talk the family, because you can't handle the fact that there are people out there who don't _like _you,"

"Shut up Owen!" Jack called as he and Gwen left the hub.

Chuckling, Owen picked up the saw, pressed record on his small tape recorder and set to work, hoping that this time, Beth wouldn't break all his equipment.

TWTWTWTWTW

Tosh was a terrible person. Like a truly awful person. In the last two weeks she had gone on six dates with Danny. Now that wasn't the reason she was a terrible person, in reality the fact that she had managed to go out with Danny so many times in just two weeks, whilst working for a place like Torchwood was pretty damn amazing. No, the reason she was such a terrible person was because she didn't actually enjoy the dates.  
>Danny was a lovely person sure, he had a respectable job, was a doted upon son and he even donated blood for God's sake. However there was a major problem with Danny that she had picked up on her second date. Danny was incredibly and inconceivably dull. Tosh didn't know exactly what it was about him, but she could never focus on him when he was telling her something 'interesting' for more than a few minutes before her mind started wondering. And as time went on, she just kept on picking out more and more faults in the poor man. She guessed it had started at the end of her first date, the catalyst one would probably say for this whole sorry mess.<p>

_Two Weeks Ago – 00:04am_

"_I had a lovely time Toshiko," Danny said, draining the remains of his pint. "I hope we can do this sometime again." _

"_That'd be lovely. I'd like that." She smiled, checking her purse to make sure she had enough money for a taxi back to her place. She wasn't lying though, the bar they'd chosen to go to had a lovely atmosphere. It was neither too full nor too empty and the background chatter from the people and the TV as well as the constant music from the jukebox made sure that there was never an awkward moment between the pair. The two had had a few drinks, not enough to get drunk (they both had work the next day) but enough to feel slightly tipsy and lighten the mood, they even managed to play a couple games of pool (Tosh won both with ease)._

_They were two of the few people left in the bar at midnight, the jukebox long since been switched off, so it was rather easy to hear the discussion show being played on the TV. _

"-And I'm just saying Anthony, that you have to look at the facts and what has happened over the last few years. Those people on the roofs on Christmas day, the ghosts which turned into metal men, those things in the sky. After seeing all that, how can you say that aliens don't exist?" _  
>Tosh never heard the rest of that particular argument as it was interrupted by an amused snort from Danny. <em>

"_Are you ok?" She asked, wondering whether he had choked on the remainders of his drink. _

"_I'm fine Toshiko really. Did you hear what they were saying on that show just now?" _

"_Aliens right?" _

"_Yeah _aliens, _some people really are mental, that guy just now really sounded convinced that aliens are real. Poor sod."_

"_So you don't think that there's life on other planets then?" Tosh asked, already dreading the answer. _

"_Pfft, of course I don't, it's just loonies and the government trying to cover things up. There's no such thing as aliens for God's sake. You don't believe in them do you?" _

To this day Tosh still wasn't sure why she said what she said. If she was to guess, it was probably because she was scared of losing him. Danny was the best thing to happen to her in years, even if that was only there first date. She wasn't going to throw a potentially good thing away because he didn't believe in aliens (never mind that she had seen so many different things over the years and her whole work was based on them, and their very real existence.) So she lied, laughed and told him that of course she didn't believe in aliens, that was just stupid.

But after that night she began noticing the other differences between the two. And maybe she was just being finickity about him being boring, but Tosh knew that she could never have a meaningful relationship with someone who didn't believe in life on other worlds, and how people were still dubious she didn't know. And that was what she wanted, more than anything else in the world. A meaningful relationship with someone who could love her no matter what. And she knew that in that moment, Danny never could.

Yet for some reason she hadn't ended things with Danny, she didn't know why, but she just couldn't, she'd hate to hurt him. And that's what would happen if she said that she didn't want to see him any-more, because he liked her. She could see it in his eyes. So she ended up gritting her teeth and listening to mundane stories about his life. At least one of them were happy.

TWTWTWTWTW

Owen was whistling tunelessly as he finished with the autopsy of Beth, marking down a few more notes before taking another look. Even though it was morbid, this probably ended up being one of the favourite parts of his job. Whilst it was upsetting that another person or species had died, this was what he'd been trained for. Here he knew what he was doing, could get lost in the mechanics of it all, knew what to do when, but the really brilliant thing about Torchwood was that there were so many new things to learn about.  
>Sure he wasn't as smart as Tosh, but like her, Owen had a desire to learn. To find out about new things, technologies, viruses, biological layouts. Whatever it was, Owen wanted to know about it, understand why it did this, that and the other. It was why he was so glad Jack gave him the freedom he did. If he worked for UNIT or even Torchwood 1 (scratch that, especially Torchwood 1) when it was still standing there would be all these protocols he'd have to follow and thousands of forms to fill out before he would have been able to lift a bloody scalpel.<p>

And there would have been no way he would have been able to carry out experiments, in places like that you had to have authority and experience. Something he might have gained it eventually, but it would have been too slow for his taste. Torchwood 3 was more his cup of tea, it suited him better, the size, the workload, everything.

Owen knew he worked best under pressure, and Jack had helped him see that. Before this, he'd been happy at the hospital. Been happy with his tiny paycheck and the meagre amount of responsibility he was trusted with. But Torchwood had opened his eyes, made him realise he was better than that, and he was eternally grateful.

"Autopsy of Beth Mackenzie completed at 01:52am. Freezing and sending down to the morgue." Owen said before turning off the recorder, looking over the few notes he'd scribbled down when he'd forgotten that he could talk into the recorder as he was working, and not get any guts or gore all over his pen and paper.

Placing Beth's body into a container, Owen started the freezing process before he tidying the equipment away. Thanks to some advanced alien technology the body would take only ten minutes to fully freeze, but Owen _did not _want to send Beth's body down to the morgue prematurely. Not after last time, even if it was incredibly unlikely that she'd up and leave again. The autopsy had proven that Beth was definitely dead. Not human no (this time, none of his equipment had been broken, but he was assuming that was due to Tosh breaking the natural shields and the whole dying thing) but dead.

He'd managed to disinfect half the equipment before the container started beeping, telling him that the freezing was over and that she needed to be sent to the morgue. Owen quickly sent the body down, before getting back to the task at hand.

It was surprising really, Owen had thought it would take longer to complete the autopsy, had been fully prepared to be still at the hub by the time Jack had gotten back, but the whole process was relatively quick. There was no defences to break through and nothing that would put anyone at risk (Thank God, he couldn't help but think) and Owen was quite excited to go back over the notes he'd made, do a bit more research into the species and then try and make an educated guess about the whole thing, but that could wait.

All Owen wanted now was his bed, the adrenaline from earlier in the day had worn off and he was now exhausted. However he knew he couldn't leave straight away, there was still a huge mess in the autopsy bay and Ianto would have his head if he left it. So he sighed and grumbled to himself, but got the job done.

It was only as he was logging off for the night about 45 minutes later that the hub door opened, sirens blaring loudly. "I'm just going Harkness, no need to -" Owen stopped suddenly on seeing that the person who had entered the hub was most definitely not Jack. "Tosh, what's wrong? What's happened?" He ran down the stairs to the young technician, carefully taking off her wet coat. He noticed straight away that she was soaked through. When had it started raining? _No not the thing to think about Harper_ he mentally berated himself as he lead Tosh to the sofa.

"I'm just going to get you a towel all right?" When she nodded, Owen got off the sofa and ran to the locker rooms a few floors below. As well as towels, he grabbed some blankets and looked through her locker for spare clothes, but everything in there were blouses and office skirts, which whilst great during the day, are not ideal in the middle of the night, whilst soaking wet.

Cursing he made his way to his locker, grabbing an old jumper which would more than swamp Tosh, but it'd keep her warm which was the point. When he got back, Tosh looked a lot more like herself, her face wasn't as pale and she seemed to be taking in her surroundings, something she wasn't before.

"Thanks Owen," she smiled, taking the jumper he handed her and shamelessly unbuttoning her soaked blouse, not even seeming embarrassed at the company. She pulled the top away from her and pulled the jumper on, hiding her quite amazing breasts. _SHUT UP BRAIN SHUT UP_, because that's when it hit Owen. Tosh was drunk, considerably so. It hadn't been obvious at first, she wasn't slurring or falling al over the place, but her eyes were slightly glassy and sober Tosh would never have the self-confidence to do that.

"No problem sweetheart," he said gruffly, looking away as she shimmied out of her skirt. Luckily his jumper was much too big on him and stopped mid-thigh so she didn't expose anything. He had no idea what to do in this sort of situation. "You gonna tell me why you're in such a sorry state?"  
>At this Tosh let out a wail, which pretty much confirmed that she was off her tits. Brilliant. "I'm such a twat," she moaned, leaning back on the sofa.<p>

"We all are, have to be to get this job," She gave a small hiccuped laugh before falling silent again.

"I think me and Danny are finished," she finally said, playing with a stray thread on the blanket.

"How come?"

"Well I just kind of snapped in the restaurant we were at."

_Earlier that evening - 8:30pm _

"_And the Ian said that we weren't going to-" Danny was currently telling her about some deal the business had just made. Or at least Tosh thought that was what he was talking about. To be truthful she had stopped listening about five minutes ago and was slowly working on emptying the bottle of wine on their table. _

"_Tosh? Tosh? Are you even listening to me?" Danny said, looking slightly worried and a bit more annoyed that once again Tosh had stopped listening. "Am I boring you?" He asked quietly, once he was certain he had her full attention. _

"_What? No, no not at all," Tosh protested, but even to her it sounded weak, and that was saying something seeing as she had single-handldy drank the better part of the wine._

"_Is something wrong then? With work or you family?" Danny asked, placing his hand on top of Tosh's. She snatched hers away as soon as they made contact, like his touch burned. _

"_No there's nothing wrong," _

"_Then what is it? Is there anything I can do to help,"  
>"You could shut up," Tosh snapped. "Because that's one thing you never do, always wittering about this and that. Never shutting up."<em>

"_Calm down Toshiko, people are staring," Danny said, looking round the room self-consciously, apologising as best he could to all the glares sent their way. _

_But this only made things worse. "I will not calm down, I mean it's probably the only way I'll probably get myself heard over all your shit!" _

"_You're crazy," Danny hissed, his face beet red as more glares turned their way. "You act all interested in me, but then never listen to what I'm saying, ignore me when I ask about you and now you're screaming at me."_

_It was at that point that Tosh threw the remainder of wine in her glass at his face._

"_I'm sorry madam but we're going to have to ask you to leave. Some people are complaining," A waiter said snootily, looking in shock at the dripping form of Danny._

"_I was just leaving anyway," Tosh spat, grabbing her jacket and marching out of the restaurant. The rain sobered her slightly, but she kept on walking. To the one place where she knew she'd be safe. To the hub._

"Shit," Owen remarked as calmly as he could when Tosh finished her story.

"Just a bit. The thing is, I'm not sure why I got so mad at Danny, he didn't do anything wrong I was just getting so sick of the whole thing. Although I doubt that he'll ever want to see me again after tonight. Not sure if that's a good thing or not."

"The fact that you can't tell probably means that it is a good thing you broke things off now, rather than later." Owen said, getting comfy on the sofa. Tosh sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that you two didn't work out though, he did make you happy, however briefly that was for. You deserve happiness you know that Tosh, it suits you. When you smile you can light up a whole room, you should do it more often." Stretching, Owen checked the time on his phone, swearing lightly when he realised how late it had got. "How about we go down to the spare rooms, it's getting pretty late. Tosh? Tosh?"

That was when he noticed that she had fallen asleep sometime when he was speaking. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep he couldn't help but note. Soon enough he couldn't fight the tiredness either and felt his eyes droop.

Half an hour later Captain Jack Harkness found two of his employees curled around each other on the sofa. Tosh's hair was still slightly damp, but the rest of her was fine. Jack was amused to see her in Owen's spare jumper, with said doctor wrapped around her.

Smiling he picked up a blanket and covered them with it. "Sweet dreams,"


	8. Chapter 8

"Arghh my head," Tosh cried out as the door alarms blared, waking her from her deep alcohol induce sleep the next day. Gwen trotted up the stairwell, her hair damp due to the rain that was still pouring down from previous night, frowning in confusion at the sight in front of her.

Tosh and Owen were both snoozing (or had been at least, her arrival seemed to have somewhat stirred them) on the small couch, in fact they were practically lying on top of one another, whilst Jack and Ianto were standing to the side, identical looks of amusement plastered on their faces.

"What's happened?" Gwen asked Ianto quietly, so none of the others would over hear. "Did they have to come in sometime last night? If the rift was being a nuisance you could have called me?"

"Nothing like that. Apparently Tosh can be quite... spontaneous when drunk. She chucked a drink at Danny last night, during a small disagreement. Turned up here in quite a state, and from what I can tell from the CCTV Owen was comforting her before they both crashed."

"That's why she's wearing his clothes then," Gwen arched an eyebrow playfully at Ianto.

"It seemed to be actual comforting. She was soaked through and he let her wear his spare clothes. Didn't stop her stripping then and there though."

"Please tell me you've kept the footage, Owen's face must have been a sight,"

"It's already up on your computer, I know how you like your morning entertainment. I've got pictures of those two as well," Gwen giggled as she went to watch the footage, leaving the two immortals watching over their two sleeping co-workers.

"Drink too much did we Toshkio?" Jack asked jovially, his voice causing Tosh to flinch once again, making her try and bury her head into the pillow cushioning her head. Except, that wasn't a pillow. Tosh froze as she felt a gentle rise and fall of breath below her and it took a second for her to recognise the familiar cologne that surrounded her completely.

"Morning love," Owen said sleepily, not having opened his eyes yet and currently unaware of his current location, the person he was lying next to/underneath and the fact that his three other colleagues were all currently watching the situation with growing amusement.

"Erm Owen," Tosh poked him the side sharply, trying not to shy away from her own voice too loudly or throw up last nights meal. It was quite a struggle but the thought of Owen ripping her a new one with her current hangover if she did get sick all over him and the jumper she was wearing was enough to make sure she didn't. Just about anyway.

"What do you want Tosh- Tosh? What the bloody hell?" Owen opened his eyes and sat bolt up right in less than a second. Unfortunately Tosh had been heavily leaning on him, so when he moved with such a force and without any sort of warning, Tosh moved with him. And promptly fell off the couch with a yelp. "Shit Tosh, I'm so sorry."

"It's all right Owen, really," Tosh stood ignoring the offered hands from Ianto and Owen, grimacing slightly at the sudden head rush. Pulling down the ends of the jumper and trying to hide as much of her legs as physically possible Tosh picked up the clothes she had left on the floor earlier that morning. "I'm going downstairs for a shower, I shouldn't be too long though Jack,"

"Take your time," Jack laughed, more than amused at his co-workers obvious embarrassment. "You need to go down to the showers too Owen?"

"Oh fuck off, you arse," Owen snarled, walking over to his computer and starting it up. "I'll let you know I was just trying to help out."

"And that's why she was in her knickers and one of your jumpers then?" Ianto asked smirking.

"She was wet!" he protested.

"I bet she was,"

"Piss off Gwen you know what I mean. It was raining, she was upset and drunk, I was just trying to comfort her because I am actually a decent human being believe it or not,"

"All right guys enough teasing. There's meant to be a small spike in Splott later today. Gwen, I want you and Ianto to go down there and check it out. It shouldn't be anything too major but if you need help, we'll all be on the comms ready to head down. Owen have you finished the autopsy on Beth yet?"

"Yeah, froze her and sent the body down to the morgue about six hours back."

"Okay, well I want you to work on the report today. If you have time, feel free to go back to your research about the weevils, I think you're close to really understanding the way that they communicate and it might help us keep them in the sewers permanently. They're getting a bit too eager about moving upside."

"Right on ya boss," He mock saluted, turning to his computer and logged on, plugging in his recorder.

About twenty minutes of silent working passed before Tosh re-entered the main hub, gently rubbing at her hair with a towel, wearing her spare clothes from her locker. She sat down at her desk, smiling slightly at Owen. "How did you get into my locker? It was locked,"

"I'm magic," Owen winked. "Nah I worked out the combination years ago. How'd you know I got in?"  
>"Are you joking, it looked like a bomb had struck. You're not the most discreet of people,"<p>

"Here you go Tosh, for your... headache." Ianto said, during a lull in the mindless chitchat, passing over a cup of coffee and two paracetamol.

She smiled weakly, taking the two tablets with a small sip of coffee. "Thank you Ianto. Last time I drink on work night I can tell you,"

Owen stood up suddenly, almost knocking over his chair in the process, walking over to the bay before noisily searching through some drawers. "Something I say?" Tosh asked, visibly confused by Owen's sudden departure.

"No idea, probably left something from last night down there and needs it for his report, you know what he's like," Ianto shrugged, before turning and making his way up to tourist office.

Owen was in the bay for about five more minutes, looking through his drawers and swearing occasionally, although why Gwen and Tosh had no idea. Suddenly a cry of triumph came from the bay and Owen climbed back up the stairs.

"You okay Owen?" Gwen asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"M'fine. Just looking for something."

"You find it love?"

"Course I did." At Gwen's questioning look Owen relented. "Just looking for my famous hangover cure," Smirking he passed it to Tosh. "One sip and your 'headache' will be gone in seconds,"

"Oi you cheeky bugger, when I came in last month with a killing head you just started banging pots and pans around until Ianto threatened to set Emmett on you,"

"That was for giving me a tonne of paperwork the day before you bloody mare."

Rolling her eyes, Gwen went back to work. "You never give anyone your amazing hangover cure. No matter how much they beg," Tosh said softly, making sure that Gwen couldn't overhear.

"Well I'm feeling generous I suppose,"

"Thank you,"

"Any-time Tosh,"

TWTWTWTWTW

Just after noon the rift alert went off, signalling that whatever was due to land in Splott had. Shortly after, Gwen and Ianto got in the SUV and drove off at a quick pace, they still weren't sure what had landed and needed to get there and pick it up before some innocent civilian did. Whatever it was had landed in the outskirts, in a fairly empty place, luckily for the team.

"Tosh said that whatever it was landed by the bank. No clue whether it's a creature or an artefact but at least it should be hidden from view." Ianto said, reciting what Tosh had told him earlier.

"All right then, lets get searching. Any idea of how big it'll be? We gonna be on our hands and knees here or will it be easily seen?"

"No idea, sorry Gwen,"

"No problem love, good thing I've got you here with me then." Ianto laughed gently and Gwen took a sigh, mentally preparing herself for the conversation that she had wanted to have the vampire for quite some time. Might as well get it done with, she reasoned no time like the present after all. "Are you okay Ianto?"

"Yeah, you good Gwen?" the Welshman said, looking confused.

"I'm fine pet, I guess I'm just a bit worried about you."

"Right... can I ask why?"

"Sorry Ianto, it's just that I don't want to see you getting hurt again. Not saying that Jack's going to break your heart or anything or leave you but last time he hurt you pretty badly and you were pretty cut up about it and I guess that-"

"Gwen you're rambling,"

"Yeah I know, sorry."

"It's fine. I understand where you're coming from though, I had the same fears as you did originally, but it's different this time. Before, we never went out on dates, never even talked about what _we_ were or what we wanted. But he's trying, like really trying. Since he's been back we've gone a couple of dates and excuse me from sounding like a teenage girl but they've been so romantic. He puts so much thought into them and they're not just the generic first dates either. We've talked too, like properly talking about what we want the relationship to be like. We're so much stronger already, and hopefully it'll continue like this."

"Well good luck Ianto, you deserve some happin-mmph" Gwen was promptly silenced as Ianto pushed her into the wall behind, placing his hand on her mouth.

"The thing that came through the rift. It's an alien, and it's round the corner. I can hear it." Ianto lowered his hand as both himself and Gwen got their stun guns ready.

"On three," The pair hurried to the edge of the corner, Gwen counting down.

"Three!" Simultaneously the two sprang from the wall, stun guns already aiming, ready to fire if need be.

The alien looked very similar to a weevil, if the teeth and skin colour were anything to go by anyway. Maybe they were the same species but from different times or they could be from the same planet, Gwen couldn't help but go over the facts, although she knew it wasn't exactly the best time. The beast was head first in the rubbish and hadn't seemed to notice Gwen and Ianto approach.

"We need to get closer Yan, it's skin looks thick, like a protective armour of some sort, the guns won't have any sort of effect on it this far away." When he nodded they slowly started making their way closer, one from the left and one from the right.

Gwen didn't know what happened next. If one of them stepped on a stick or a leaf. If she had breathed particularly loudly. If it was a rustle of clothing. But something caught the creature's attention. It's head snapped up suddenly, teeth baring when it realised it had company.

"Oh shit," Gwen breathed, eyes widening.

"Don't move," Ianto commanded quietly. "Just stay still whilst I-" He was interrupted by the creature roaring and barrelling forward, it's full attention on Gwen.

She started shooting instantly, but it was no use, the alien's skin was too think, the electric beams having no outcome. It lifted it's clawed hand and swiped, catching her arm. Sharp pain hit and she could feel her shirt sleeve get wet with the instant heavy flow of blood.

The beast moved again, and this time Gwen knew it would be fatal. She closed her eyes, sending a silent prayer, hoping that Rhys would be okay without her, wondering what he would be told, what her parents would be told, all in the space of split second. Just as it was about to charge, the beast was thrown into the wall.

Gwen had never seen the full effect of Ianto's strength before. She knew just how powerful and dangerous he could be, but knowing it and witnessing it were two very different things. In seconds he had gone from being a quiet and reserved young man into a deadly killer. The beast staggered back up, his full attention on Ianto now. It got to charge at him, but Ianto was too quick, too experienced. He snarled and in less than a second was behind the beast his hands gripping tightly around it's head. A large crack broke through Gwen's senses, as the beast crumpled to the ground. It's neck snapped.

And that's when the situation hit her, she trusted Ianto with her life. But how much of Ianto was in there. How much was in control, when he was high off adrenaline and she was covered in blood, with more gushing out at a steady rate. His dark eyes met hers, full of hunger.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm currently uploading Secrets onto AO3 under the same story-name and pan-name. It hasn't changed particularly, but I have edited grammar and tried to keep some other aspects more in character. Feel free to check it out if you want. **

And that's when the situation hit her, she trusted Ianto with her life. But how much of Ianto was in there, in control when he was high off adrenaline and she was covered in blood. His dark eyes met hers, full of hunger.

At some point Gwen had fallen onto the floor. She wasn't exactly sure when, maybe it had been when the alien had struck, maybe it had been when Ianto had killed it, maybe she had tripped over her own to feet in her desperate struggle to get away from him.

The Ianto she knew disappeared. In his place was an animal. A skilled predator, it's prey cornered, ready to be killed. Gwen swore his eyes had been a vibrant orange earlier that day, but at the sight of more blood, human blood, Ianto looked positively famished.

"Jack we- we may have a problem," Gwen's voice trembled slightly, as she spoke into the comms.

"Why? Gwen what's happened down there,"

"The alien scratched me,"

"Jack the creature's been taken care, it vaguely resembles a weevil. Anyway Gwen was injured, I'm going to take care of her now," Ianto's voice was calm but detached, like he wasn't really there, aware of what was happening.

Suddenly Ianto was next to her, lifting her arm. "It's ok Gwen. The wound doesn't look too deep, just need to bandage it up, you should be fine though."

"What?"

"You're safe Gwen, I have amazing self-control. No need to panic. I just need to run back to the car and get the first aid kit. I'll be gone for just a minute max, do you think you'll be ok?"

Gwen nodded, unable to stop the guilt running through her because she instantly thought the worst of her friend. In less than a minute Ianto had returned, rifling through the first aid kit.

"I need a look at your arm," Gwen pulled up her sleeve, wincing at the three scratch marks covering her arm. They could have been worse, but the wounds were deep enough and her top was ruined due to the amount of blood already present. Ianto gently took her arm and began disinfecting the wound, smiling apologetically as she winced at the sting.

Within minutes Ianto had applied basic butterfly stitches and wrapped Gwen's arm securely. "You might want to get Owen to look at it properly when you get back, but it should be fine for the next hour or so,"

"Ianto you're shaking,"

He grimaced, looking down at his quivering hands. "So I am, I'll be fine though,"

"It's making you uncomfortable, that's not fair. Look I'll drive back to the hub, I should be able to do that, you go back now, tell Jack what happened if you want."

"Gwen I can't just do that,"

"I don't care sweetheart, you're in a position that isn't helpful in the slightest. It's a twenty minute drive back and I can't knowingly put you in that situation. My arm's not too bad so I'll be fine driving."

"Only if you're sure," When Gwen confirmed once again that she was fine driving back, Ianto nodded and disappeared. It was then she realised that at some point Ianto had moved the alien's body and she was pretty sure it would be in the back of the SUV when she checked.

"Jack the alien's dead," Gwen said, filling him in on what had happened. Owen had demanded that she let him check her arm when she came back, but only after he was sure that she would be okay driving back and wouldn't run anyone off the road. "I told Ianto to go on without me, he managed to fix up my arm pretty well, but he looked ready to snap. I didn't want to put him in a situation like that, it isn't fair. If he's gone straight to the hub he should be back in a bit, but he might have gone to cool down,"

"All right thanks Gwen. We'll see you in a bit,"

When she arrived at the car, the first thing the former police woman did was check the boot, where just as she had thought, the alien was. Even when he was trying to stay in control, Ianto was always looking out for others.

TWTWTWTWTWTW

"All right thanks Gwen. We'll see you in a bit. Take your time though," Jack ended the connection, before swearing lightly.

"She'll be okay Jack," Tosh said, trying to sooth his nerves.

"It's not her I'm worried about. Ianto seems to have been pretty on edge if the way Gwen was talking about him is anything to go by. The fact that he was put into a situation like that can't bode well."

"Stop fretting Harkness, fangs will be fine,"

"Yes thank you Owen, don't you need to get ready for Gwen?"

He ignored the medic's grumblings as the alarm doors started blaring and the cog wheel rolled open. Ianto stepped through, his tie pulled down slightly and his face full of worry and he was obviously tense.

"Ianto," Jack called, as he pushed past him, simply a blur as he ran down to the archives. "You two wait up here for Gwen, I need to speak to Ianto,"

Tosh and Owen nodded, identical looks of worry on their faces. He ran down the stairs and within minutes was at the entrance of the archives. Now was the difficult bit, no-one knew these archives better than Ianto, he could be hidden absolutely anywhere and even if he did get anywhere near him, Ianto would be able to hear him from miles and thus avoid him with ease.

That was why as Jack opened the door that led to the small archive office he was more than surprised to see Ianto leaning against the desk, trying his best to look as casual as he could, although he still seemed somewhat shaken.

"Now how did I know you'd follow me down here,"

"Maybe because you have super senses and can here me breathing when your 5 floors below and I'm in my office, so when I'm 10 feet away from you, there's no problem. And because at the worst of time I can be incredibly predictable,"

Ianto chuckled quietly. "Not at all Sir,"

The pair stood in a comfortable silence for a moment, Jack walked over to the desk and took Ianto's hand lightly. "I almost fucked up today Jack. Like properly fucked up," Jack didn't say

a word, knowing that Ianto needed to talk about what had happened. What had happened between him and Gwen earlier had shook him up, and Jack knew that flowery words would do nothing to ease his lover's conscience. "When that thing scratched Gwen's arm I just couldn't cope. It was the only thing I could focus on. Yes I killed the creature, but it wasn't entirely because I wanted to save Gwen. On some sort of level, I was guarding her, but not because she's my co-worker, my friend but because I didn't want someone getting to the prey first. My prey."

"You didn't hurt her though Ianto. You're not a bad person, no matter what you think,"

"I don't think I'm a bad person Jack, I'm a monster. I didn't think twice about snapping that creature's neck and given half the chance I would have sucked Gwen dry."

"Yan you didn't though, something stopped you from hurting Gwen. And that's because you're in control, you're human and I know you. I trust you with my life as do Gwen, Tosh and Owen, which probably has more meaning seeing as I'm immortal."

"Jack I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I just need to be on my own right now."

"Of course, just come up whenever," Jack lightly kissed Ianto's forehead and walked out of the room, letting the door close quietly behind him.

"Is Ianto all right?" Tosh asked as he re-entered the main area. At some point Gwen had arrived and her and Owen were in the medical bay looking over her arm.

"He's pretty torn up about what happened, feels really guilty." Tosh bit her lower lip lightly, one of her habits whenever she was worried about something but wasn't sure how to fix the current problem. "He'll be fine though, if you'll excuse me I've just got to make a call." Tosh nodded and waved Jack away, going back to the complicated programme running on her computer.

The captain smiled lightly at Owen and Gwen and shut his office door behind him. Pulling out his phone, Jack went straight to his contacts, pressing call once he found a specific number. "Carlisle, I think you better come in, it's about Ianto."

TWTWTWTWTW

"All right Jack, I understand. I'll be there in a few minutes," Carlisle hung up the phone and sighed.  
>"What was that about love?" Esme asked, sitting up where she had previously been leaning against Carlisle on the sofa, enjoying rare peace and quiet.<p>

The others had all decided to take advantage of the long weekend they were being granted and had left Cardiff the previous night to spend a few days hunting. Only Ianto, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper and Alice had stayed behind. Alice had been invited to a party from a girl she had befriended in her school year, whilst both Carlisle and Ianto had to stay for their respective jobs. Esme and Jasper had decided to stay in Cardiff with their spouses, knowing that hunting trips were also used as romantic excursions and neither felt like intruding.

Carlisle quickly explained the situation to his wife, pulling on his shoes and coat as he talked.

"Bring Jasper with you," Esme said once he'd finished. "He knows the situation that Ianto was in, will know what he's thinking and feeling."

"You're right. Jasper," Carlisle called. In less than a second Jasper had appeared from the garden, Carlisle quickly explained the situation to him. "I was wondering if you'd come with me. I don't know how much my words will mean to Ianto, after all I've never drank human blood and haven't been tempted for centuries. You've had similar struggles and if you're comfortable going over to Torchwood it would mean a lot,"

"That's fine, are we leaving now?" Carlisle nodded and the two vampires left the house in a blur.

TWTWTWTWTW

In just over ten minutes Carlisle and Jasper had made their way to the hub, Jack already waiting for them in the tourist office. "I'm glad you could make it," he said, pressing the button under the desk that opened the secret door. The three made their way into the hub, both Carlisle and Jasper obviously fascinated by the whole base.

"He's in the archives, hasn't moved actually. It's just through the door, down one flight of stairs and on the first right."

"Thank you captain," Carlisle nodded, before both he and his adopted son ran to the archives.

They found the archives quickly due to Jasper being able to pick up Ianto's emotions before they had even made their way down the stairs.

"You okay Ianto?" Carlisle asked when they entered the room. Ianto looked up, the surprise obvious on his face. "Jack called us, he told us what happened earlier." Ianto remained silent, looking back down at the floor, refusing to look Carlisle or Jasper in the eyes.

"There's no need to be ashamed you know," Jasper began. "I know just how difficult that must have been for you Ianto and the fact that you managed to step away, calm down and then tend to her wound shows great self-restraint. If that had been me, well I'm not sure I could do it." He was interrupted when Ianto gave a short snort of laughter, as if he couldn't believe it. "No I'm serious. I haven't touched a drop of human blood in almost forty years but some days I still struggle. I had only been feeding on animal for thirty years when Bella ended up giving herself a paper cut and I almost ripped her apart.

"You haven't killed a human in twelve years now, and when Gwen's arm is practically ripped to shreds you manage to stop yourself. That is an incredible amount of self-control you have and it shows how strong you are."

"But I wanted to. God I wanted to just drain her dry so badly. She was just there Jasper, I could have killed her before she even knew what was going on."

"But you didn't Ianto and that is the most important thing. I know you hate yourself at the moment, I can feel it, but you have to move past this. The others don't blame you for what happened, I felt that too as we arrived. They're scared yes, but not of you. They're scared that you'll do something stupid and leave. You are stronger than this, today just proved it. Most vampires would have wanted to do that, but truth is, not a lot of them would have been able to restrain themselves."

The three vampires stood in silence for a moment, giving Ianto time to think. "I know you're right Jasper, but it's still difficult. The only reason I managed to stop myself was because it hit that that was Gwen. If it had been a random passerby I dread to think what would of happened."  
>"But it didn't happen Yan," Carlisle said sedately, placing his hand on the younger's shoulder. "And you can't spend your time going over 'what ifs' and 'what might have been's', you'll just end up wasting lifetimes and drive yourself mad."<p>

"I know, it is difficult though. Thank you for coming down though, it meant a lot."

"We're a family, it's what we do," Carlisle shrugged. "Do you want us to stay with you any longer or do you think you'll be ok."

"I'll be fine, I'm just going to sort out these files, I'll see you both tonight," Carlisle and Jasper quickly departed after that, leaving Ianto to his thoughts. He understood what they were saying, but he knew he would feel guilty about almost killing Gwen for a long time to come. Carlisle was right though, he couldn't spend the rest of his life feeling guilty about something that didn't happen. That wasn't fair on himself, his family or his team.

Shaking himself out of thoughts, Ianto straightened his tie and tried to make himself look slightly more presentable. Once he was happier about his appearance, he slowly made his way to the hub to make the others coffees. The hub was silent when he entered, but he knew they hadn't been talking about him, in fact he hadn't heard any of them utter a single word since he had started walking down the corridor.

It didn't make it any less disconcerting though, but Ianto just tried to make his way over to the coffee machine as calmly as possible. By the time the coffees were brewing, the others had looked away and all seemed to be getting on with their own work. He poured the drinks and unloaded each drink to the respective drinker. He had purposefully left Gwen till last, and when he placed her spotty pink mug on the table he quietly apologised for the earlier events.

"You don't need to apologise love," Gwen said, a small smile on her face to show that she meant what she said. "My arm's practically good as new," Ianto couldn't help but smile either as she lifted up her bandaged arm. "No hard feelings?" Gwen asked a second later.

"Definitely," Ianto smiled, that was when he noticed that Jack had left his office, Owen the autopsy bay and Tosh was openly watching the pair from her desk. He smiled again because finally this team was becoming a close unit who looked out for each others backs and he couldn't be happier.


	10. Chapter 10

It was that time of year again, Tosh noted as her alarm woke her a few days later. This was the day she was guaranteed a day without rift alerts and chasing aliens through dirty alleyways. This was the day when Tommy Brockless was unfrozen and she could spend a few hours with an endearing and very cute solider, just being a normal woman, or as normal as one could be when the person was hanging out with was born in 1894.

They had met four times in total, four amazing days together. The pair had instantly hit it off with one another, and after their first day together Jack had instantly put Tosh on Tommy duty. Although she couldn't say she minded. Tommy was a great person, and Tosh appreciated his sense of humour and general look on life. For someone who had fought in World War 1 he was incredibly positive.

She smiled and got out of her bed, glancing at the outfit she had chosen to wear the night before. Today was going to be good, she could just tell.

TWTWTWTWTW

"I'm sorry Tosh," Owen said softly by the pier. Tommy had been sent back a few hours ago and since then the rest of the team had been giving Tosh a wide berth. They all knew she was hurting, Tosh had shared a special bond with Tommy that she had never had with another person before. For once her feelings were reciprocated and she wasn't being manipulated. But it was never meant to be. Their fleeting relationship had been doomed from the start and Tosh just wanted to cry at the unfairness of it all.

She had left the hub a while back, Owen close behind her. He was being surprisingly nice about the whole thing and they had been stood at the pier for close to half an hour before Owen had broken the silence that had surrounded them, but Tosh found she didn't mind, he hadn't tried to make her talk, open up about her feelings, instead he had just been there. Stood in the light drizzle with her, slowly getting soaked through, letting her know that he was there for her when need be.

"He trusted me right to the end," She finally said trying to make sure her voice didn't crack.

"Because you were strong," Owen reasoned. "All of this, is still here because of you."

She shook her head. "Because of Tommy. Let's hope we're worth it," At this she moved away from the pier, tears streaming down her face. God she needed a drink.

TWTWTWTWTW

Another few weeks passed before anything... strange happened. Rhys had accepted the existence of Torchwood with surprising grace and seemed to have little to no problem with Gwen returning back to the hub. Luckily for everyone the rift had stayed quiet during this time, giving Rhys more time to wrap his head around the situation. Although after a few short peaceful weeks, the rift inevitably opened up once more, dropping a lone wooden box. Unknown to the team, this seemingly harmless artefact would cause a number of different problems for the team, not that they noticed straight away. It took a while for the team to notice this particular situation. Two days to be precise.

Ianto was late. Well not really, but he was half an hour later than he normally was and it was all Rosalie's fault. Whilst her and Jake had got over their original disputes and could now be civil to one another, every so often they would butt heads and World War three would start up.

This was one of those occasions. Ianto wasn't really sure how it had begun, passing irregular snide remarks to one another had lead to full blown arguments between the pair and a war full of childish pranks. When he had left that morning the two families were split into two groups. One group were trying to keep Rosalie from tearing Jake to shreds, whilst the other half were doing the same for Jake. Jacob's and Nessie's flaming bed in the middle.

Owen and Tosh were already present, both working at their computers and Ianto knew Jack would be in his office. "Morning," he called, making his way to the coffee machine, pulling out three mugs and waited for the water to come to a boil.

He poured the three familiar drinks and walked down to the computer area, tray in hand. Jack's office door was closed, so Ianto gave Tosh and Owen their morning drinks first.  
>"Didn't know you wore glasses," Ianto said, frowning slightly in confusion at the medic, looking over the slicked down hair, sweater-vest and the rectangular pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose.<p>

"Uh I always wear glasses when working on the computer. Are you- uh okay Ianto?"

"Fine, I think," Something was different about his co-workers. It was unnerving, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Uhh cheers for the coffee anyway,"

"Welcome," Ianto said dismissively, looking up when Jack's office door opened. "Your coffee sir,"

"Ah what would I do without you Ianto," Jack smiled, graciously taking the cup.

"One does wonder," That was when Ianto noticed Jack wasn't alone. A young redheaded man followed him out of the office, a small smirk on his face.

Before he could ask who the man was, he spoke up. "Don't tell me you forgot my cuppa. I'm gasping for one of your magic brews." As he spoke he walked over to Ianto, placing his hand on his shoulder.

As they touched Ianto's head flooded with memories.

_Meeting on Ianto's first day "So you're the one who caught the pterodactyl, very impressive,"_

_Finding out Ianto was a vampire "Thanks for telling us mate, it means a lot that you trust us that much,"_

_And mucking about in the hub, throwing around a basketball "That's cheating, you can't use your magic vampire powers,"_

"Sorry Adam, I hadn't realised you were in yet,"

"No worries mate," Adam said, smiling as he went back to his computer, squeezing Tosh's shoulder lightly as he walked past.

After a few minutes Gwen arrived, and that's when the confusion began. Everyone in the hub tensed as she demanded to know who Adam was, relaxing when she had revealed she was joking. But Ianto still felt tense and uneasy, if it was just a joke it was a bit random. Sure Adam had said that on Gwen's first day, but it didn't sit right with him. He forgot all about it though when Owen once again tried to impress Tosh.

He shared a sympathetic smile with Gwen. That boy would never learn. It was quite endearing in a cringey sort of way. Provided the hub with amusement though, so he wasn't complaining.

TWTWTWTWTW

Ianto had managed to get home at a decent time that night, not that it really mattered when he got back, seeing as he didn't need food or sleep. He noted that he really needed to ask for the weekend off so he could go to the countryside and feed. He told himself to ask Jack the next day, although he was pretty sure he was meant to ask that morning. Must have slipped his mind he reasoned.

Rosalie and Jake had seemed to have come to a momentary sort of truce, he noted in amusement, seeing the two of them making awkward small talk with Bella and Esme in the kitchen.

"Good day at work?" Carlisle asked, looking up from a file he was reading as Ianto walked through the door.

"Yeah, no rift alerts anyway." Ianto hung his coat up and sat down on the couch. "We were looking over the research we'd gathered on the weevils. They've been here so long yet we still know so little on them. We don't know what their old planet was like, whether they mate for life or one kills the other off once they've done the deed-" at this Alice wrinkled her nose at the mental image. "And then Adam said that the weevils might have some sort of natural hierarchy, which would make sense looking back on it-"

"Wait a sec," Emmett said, looking slightly confused. "Who's Adam? I can't remember you saying that Jack had hired someone new,"

"He hasn't," This time it was Ianto who looked baffled.

"Then who's this Adam?" This time it was Carlisle who asked the question, but by now everyone was listening into the conversation.

"Oh not you too. Gwen's already made that joke about having no clue who Adam was earlier today."

"So if Gwen and all of us have no idea who Adam is, then something must be up,"

"Gwen was making a joke, it probably registered as funny in her head. Although she admitted she was joking much earlier than you guys are."

"Ianto, we're being serious. I can't remember you ever mentioning an Adam before,"

"I must have done Carlisle, he's been working at Torchwood for much longer than me,"

"He wasn't at the battle when the others were,"

"Yes he was, he snuck out of the spare room to find Gwen and Tosh remember?"

"No, because that never happened. The only members from Torchwood at that battle were you, Jack, Gwen, Owen and Tosh." Rosalie practically snapped.

"No, I can see him," Edward said, closing his eyes. "I can see Adam in you head, I can see what you just told us, but apart from today's memories with Adam, all the others are... odd,"

"How so?" Carlisle asked, looking slightly worried.

"They're not like normal memories, normally when someone thinks of a past event it's just like watching it happen in real life. These memories are muffled, like they're trapped in a bubble or something. They don't seem real,"

"What do you mean, they don't seem real,"

"Ianto, I don't think this Adam is who he says he is. I think he placed those memories in your head, but I have no idea why or how,"

"Could forcing new memories into someone's head, make them forget things in their life?"

"Urm, if the memory being put into the head is large and or if there's more than one, I guess it has the potential to," Edward shrugged. "Why do you ask,"

"Earlier today, Gwen forgot who Rhys was. The man who she has been with since university, and she forgot everything about him. She's remembering him bit by bit, we all assumed it was stress related, but what if it isn't,"

"The amount of extra information must have messed with her brain, are you okay Ianto?"

"I feel fine," Ianto said, thinking over the days events. "My diary," he breathed suddenly, only continuing at his family's confused stares. "I've wrote up things about Torchwood that are interesting, things that come through the rift, aliens and the like. If Adam's real, he'll be in there. He's messing with our memories, but he can't change things like that. It's in the hub, but I'll see you all later," Not letting any of the others say a word, Ianto rushed out of the house, door slamming behind him.

When Ianto arrived back at the hub it was completely abandoned, not even Jack was around. Must still be hunting weevils then, Ianto couldn't help but note slightly bitterly. Shrugging off his hurt, Ianto went straight over to his desk, rooting around in his drawers. He found the small book quickly, and started flipping through it.  
>The book was half full, he'd had another one before this, but that was destroyed in the Battle, so when he was settled at Torchwood Three, Ianto had bought another journal. Originally he had planned to show it to Lisa when she was brought back, show her what she had missed, but now he kept it to take note of anything interesting that happened. Safe to say it was filling up fairly quickly.<p>

Ianto had flipped through a few pages when he realised the others were right. There wasn't a single mention of Adam anywhere in the book, he had talked about the others many times, but there was nothing about Adam.

"What's wrong?" Ianto visibly jumped, Adam had not been there a second ago, he would know after all. Him being a vampire meant it was practically impossible for anyone to sneak up on him.

"My diary- you're not in it. Everyone else is though," At this Adam jumped up from the sofa, making Ianto slowly back up, but he continued talking. "Why would I leave you out when you've been here for so long?" At this Adam's hand actually started flickering. "What are you? Whatever you are, you must be powerful, to be able to get into a vampire's head is certainly impressive,"

With a strength that a normal human shouldn't have, Adam managed to push Ianto up against the wall. "Cross me, and I will fill you full of fake memories until your head is on fire, because that's how I exist." he hissed.

Adam explained to Ianto, briefly how he existed, but it all started going wrong the moment he mentioned Jack.

"Remember this," he hissed, placing his hand on Ianto's body.

_It was raining, a young woman was running down a street, screaming and crying. She hit a dead end and her screaming grew louder. Ianto approached, cornering her and biting down on her neck. _

"I know you didn't mean to suck her dry," Adam's voice broke through cruelly. "After all, you had been doing so well. Had shown so much self-control. I guess you just couldn't stop yourself. Remember this," Placing his other hand on Ianto's forehead.

_Unlike the last memory, the night was clear, but the cries for help were similar. A different girl was struggling, crying out for help, but Ianto was too strong. He squeezed her arm, easily snapping it, and as the girl writhed in pain. He leant down and bit into her neck, blood spurting everywhere._

"I didn't do that," Ianto gasped. "That isn't me,"

"But you did," Adam replied coldly, moving his hand to Ianto's forehead. "And they weren't the first.

_Another girl. Another alleyway. But the situation was the same. She was screaming, begging for help and trying to get away, whilst Ianto just drained her dry._  
>"Good old Ianto, loyal Ianto. Roaming the streets at night for food."<p>

_He was walking down an empty street, following his next meal eagerly._

"My diary," he gasped, trying to get away from Adam's lying touch. This was all a lie, he knew it was, it had to be.  
>"All human record is a lie. You twist it into what you want to believe. But we know the rot in your heart. You crave flesh. You really need to stop lying to yourself, to your family. They're stronger than you, they pity you, they're disgusted by you,"<p>

"Remember it. Remember it. Remember it."

_Images flashed through Ianto's head. Girl after girl. Victim after victim. All screaming for help. All drained dry in minutes._

Ianto hears screaming. At this point he doesn't know whether it's his screams or his victims. It's all merged in to one.  
>"I helped you dump the bodies. It's me you call every single time," Ianto vaguely felt Adam press his lips onto his own, but he couldn't register it. He's too numb. Adam's talking, but he had no idea whether it's to him or if he's just talking to himself.<br>All he could see was those girls bodies. If he could be sick he would be, no doubt about it.

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack arrived twenty minutes later, shocked to see Ianto still at the hub and so obviously distressed.  
>"Yan, what's wrong?" His voice full of worry and Ianto can't help but inwardly cringe, knowing that all that concern would be gone once Jack realised how sick and twisted he was.<p>

"You have to lock me up in the vaults. I've killed these three girls, sucked them dry. You can't let me hurt anyone else Jack. Please!"

"Ianto calm down," the worry in Jack's voice is obvious. Ianto is obviously incredibly wound up. "I don't believe you've hurt anyone, let alone killed anyone. I'll get the lie detector from my office, we'll sort out this whole mess,"

"It won't work, I'm dead, it won't have anything to monitor,"

Jack cursed, not knowing how to comfort Ianto. He wrapped his arms around him, murmuring sweet nothings and tried to sooth him as best as he could. "Ianto, you couldn't have killed those girls."

"Stop thinking up excuses, I'm a monster a Jack, plain and simple. I need to be stopped before I hurt anyone else."

"Ianto, if you have killed those girls, then why are your eyes still amber?"  
>Silence filled the hub for a few seconds, before Ianto spoke up again. "What?"<p>

"Come on, check," The pair stood up and Ianto gazed in the reflection of the water tower, scared for what he would see. But sure enough, his eyes were a dull amber colour.

"Adam was here," he said quietly, staring at the sofa. "At least I think he was."

"Something's not right here," Jack frowned, pulling up the CCTV of the main hub, and sure enough, both Ianto and Adam were in the hub. The two watched the video in silence. "What the hell is going on in here," The captain muttered, pulling up videos from earlier that day. "He's touching everyone, he's touched everyone at least once today. Who the hell is he?" He questioned running to the medical bay, opening up the fridge and taking out the blood samples.

"Where's Adam's blood sample?"

"I'll check his file sir," Ianto called, opening up another file on the computer. "Everything seems to be in order.

"When was it last updated?" Jack asked, already aware of the answer.  
>"Um... 24 hours ago."<p>

TWTWTWTWTW

Adam casually stroked Tosh's hair as they lay in bed the next morning. When the alarm started beeping, Tosh immediately switched it off and slipped out of bed."I'm making some coffee, you want some?"

"I knew I loved you for a reason Toshiko Sato,"

"Is that a yes?" Tosh smiled as he kissed her lightly in confirmation. "I'll be back in a minute."  
>"When she had made the drinks and was back in the bedroom, Adam was half dressed, but was staring at a jumper in confusement.<p>

"It goes over your head," Tosh quipped, placing Adam's coffee on the bedside table.

"It's not mine though." He passed it to Tosh, obviously puzzled. She took it and stared at it. It was a familiar jumper and she remembered it from somewhere, but couldn't place it.

"I remember sleeping in it, must have been in winter when it was cold or something. Can't remember where I got it from though," Tosh didn't know whether that was true or not, but she knew that it'd be the best answer.

Adam shrugged and gave a small smile. "No worries." And as he turned to get a top that was actually his, Tosh brought the jumper to her face and inhaled deeply. She recognised the smell too, but from where she couldn't remember. She was even more confused when she realised she'd started crying.

TWTWTWTWTW

"We need to forget Adam completely, otherwise he won't go." Jack said, giving each of the team retcon.

Owen and Gwen took their pills immediately, but Tosh just stared at the small pill.  
>"Will retcon even work on me?" Ianto asked. "I mean, I can't even fall asleep."<p>

"Carlisle is pretty sure that if you take an injection instead of a pill, the drug will work effectively, after all it'll be carried around your body. You won't fall asleep, but you might fall into a slight daze of sorts whilst your memory is re-wiring."

Ianto nodded, and pulled his sleeve up. Jack slowly injected the retcon into Ianto's system. "Hopefully that'll work," Ianto nodded again, but his eyes seemed slightly out of focus, a positive sign that it was.  
>"You have to let him go Tosh," Jack said quietly. "He was using you," She nodded, tears wetting her face, before taking the pill.<p>

"Goodbye Adam," she breathed.

As Jack made his way down to the vaults, to confront Adam, he dialled Carlisle's number into his phone. "The retcon seems to be working, you just have to remember not to mention Adam. None of us will remember the last two days, and we can't have it triggered in any sort of way. He's dangerous and we need him gone. As none of you actually came into contact with him, the fact that you know of him won't effect anything"

"Don't worry Jack, I've already told the others about what's happened."

"Thank you Carlisle."

TWTWTWTWTW

Ianto arrived back home rather noisily that day. The family exchanged worried looks and tried to seem as casual and relaxed as possible when Ianto entered the living room.

"Are you ok?" Esme asked, looking up from the book she was reading.

"No, everyone from work can't remember what's happened in the last two days. All the CCTV's been wiped, there's no notes, no nothing. We must have retconned ourselves, there's four pills missing, but that doesn't explain me. I would have thought retcon would have worked on vampires."

"I'll have to research it," Carlisle said, trying not to sound too worried. "You must have done it for a reason."

"I guess," Ianto said, leaning against the sofa. "Did I say anything in the past few days or have I been acting weird."

"We haven't seen you mate," Jake said stretching. "You've been at work for the past few days, said you wanted to do as much admin as you could, before taking the weekend off to go hunting."

Ianto still looked puzzled, but let the subject drop. "I'm going to go get changed. See ya,"

"I feel bad about lying to him," Alice said, once Ianto was out of earshot.

"You know we have it, the others can't remember about Adam,"  
>"I know, I know, I was just saying."<br>"As long as he doesn't start bringing Torchwood to us, I'm not fussed," Emmett said.

"Well done, you've probably jinxed us now," Nessie said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh relax, what's the worst that could happen."

"You just had to ask didn't you Emmett?"

"Oh stop your whining Nessie. We're all fine, we're happy and we're safe."  
>"Yeah, but for how long? Ianto has a dangerous job, who knows what the rift is going to spit out next,"<p>

"You know, you didn't have to sound so excited about that."

"It's what I do,"

TWTWTWTWTW

When Tosh got back to her flat later that evening, she instantly felt a difference. Nothing in the living room seemed out of place, a DVD was lying on the coffee table, but it was possible she had watched it at any point during the last two days. Her bedroom was pretty much the same, although the bed covers had been messily pulled down the bed and left there, which was very unlike her. She shrugged, reasoning that she may have had to leave in a rush as she placed the flowers she had received from Owen (he kept saying they weren't from him, but she recognised his handwriting) on her bedside table.

Frowning at the mess, she began to make the bed, picking up the clothes that had been thrown over her floor and trying to make her room a bit more presentable. She faltered slightly as she picked up a very familiar jumper. She brought it to her face, breathing in the familiar smell that was slowly fading away and trying not to cry at the unfairness of it all.

"Stop it," she told herself sharply, pulling the top away from her and placing it on the bed. "Stop being so weird." She groaned, putting everything else away but leaving the jumper out. "Really need to give the damn thing back to Owen," she muttered, chucking it in the laundry basket, rolling her eyes.


End file.
